The Hidden Trial!
Tap... Tap... Tap...
Su Xiaobai descended the hidden staircase, the faint glow of jade runes barely piercing the suffocating darkness.
Each step felt heavier, each echo louder, as if the walls themselves were judging his life choices.
"Perfect," he muttered. "First, a cursed pond... Now, stairs into the abyss. What's next, a welcoming party from the higher-ups? Like, 'Hey! Everything before was just a prank! You can go back to your good ol' life and raise chickens!'"
He snorted, shaking his head. "If only. Knowing my luck, the chickens would probably spit fire and demand I fight them for eggs."
Even his sarcastic grumbling couldn't drown out the anxious pounding in his chest, as though something bad were about to happen.
But hey, it's bad already—it can't get worse, right?
Beneath the surface, frustration simmered with real stakes.
Somewhere down here lay the treasure he needed—no, 'had' to find.
Without it, there was no way back home.
Rustle ~~
The air grew colder as he descended, the qi-rich energy of the upper chambers fading into lifeless silence. Mist seeped through cracks in the walls, curling around his legs like ghostly hands.
Su Xiaobai paused, glancing at the sinister green fog with a frown. "Seriously, who designs these places? Did some ancient cultivator look at a foggy swamp and think, 'You know what this needs? A soul-devouring dungeon!'?"
Still, he pressed on.
Returning home wasn't just a dream—it was his only hope of escaping this godforsaken realm.
The staircase eventually gave way to a cavern so vast it felt like stepping into another world.
The air suffused with an oppressive stillness that pressed against his senses.
Violet cracks lined the jagged walls, glowing faintly with an otherworldly pulse. It wasn't the steady hum of life—it was the rhythm of something unnatural.
Su Xiaobai's boots crunched against loose gravel as he stepped forward, his voice a low mutter. "Oh, yeah. This definitely doesn't scream death trap. Maybe next, I'll stumble across a sign that says 'Sacrifice Yourself Here.'"
He froze mid-step, his attention snapping to a faint blue glow hovering in the center of the chamber.
Hiss!
His heart leapt—then immediately sank.
At first, he thought it was some sort of treasure. Then he got a better look.
The glow emanated from a pulsating object, suspended midair like an embryo cradled in light. Threads of qi spiraled into it, converging with unsettling precision.
A chill ran down his spine.
This wasn't just creepy—it was downright wrong.
"Okay," he whispered, stepping back instinctively. "Definitely not a treasure. Definitely alive. And definitely something I don't want to get near."
His gaze swept the chamber, the cracks in the walls, the dead qi, the eerie mist—it all revolved around this thing.
And then it hit him.
"This isn't a treasure vault…" His voice trembled as the realization sank in. "It's a damn soul forge!"
From the Infernal Emperor's memories, Su Xiaobai recognized the signs: the glowing cracks formed a 'Soul Refining Array', an ancient formation designed to extract the essence of fallen cultivators and refine it into pure qi.
The embryo wasn't just alive—it was feeding on their souls, the same cultivators who had died in the trials above.
Su Xiaobai's stomach churned. He glanced back at the way he'd come, as if expecting to hear their screams echoing from above. "Wait a second…" he muttered, his throat dry.
All the chambers above weren't designed to be passed—they were never trials at all. From the very beginning, this place had been a trap, a slaughterhouse wrapped in the illusion of glory.
His gaze snapped back to the embryo, the swirling threads of qi around it suddenly feeling much more sinister. A horrifying thought made its way into his mind.
"Some of this qi… could it be…" He swallowed hard. "Could it be the souls of that hot Elder Bai and the Xiantian Sect disciples?"
He grimaced, the image of their faces flashing in his mind.
They'd been so confident, so proud. But if they'd fallen for the traps… if they'd died here…
For a moment, panic clawed at him.
But then, his mind leapt to a more comforting thought:
"Wait…" He glanced around, his lips quirking into a weak smile. "Since I'm the only one who made it this far, that must mean the higher-ups set this up just for me! They wouldn't actually let me die here, right?"
He straightened, a nervous laugh escaping him. "Right? This is just one of their twisted ways of helping me grow stronger. They're testing me. Yeah, that's it."
The smile faded as his eyes drifted back to the embryo. "They're also trying to kill me, but, you know, details."
As his gaze lowered, something else caught his attention.
Beneath the embryo, half-hidden in the mist, was a coffin.
A Fate-Deceiving Coffin.
Su Xiaobai's eyes froze for a second — a real treasure!
If not for the Infernal Emperor's memories, he wouldn't have recognized it. This wasn't mortal craftsmanship—it was an artifact from the Four Heavens, the kind of item Immortal Emperors waged wars over.
And here it was, just… lying around.
He stared at it for a long moment, his hands trembling. "What kind of lunatic leaves something like this sitting in a soul-devouring array?"
Despite himself, Su Xiaobai stepped closer, his curiosity outweighing his sense of self-preservation.
The carvings on the coffin glowed faintly, their patterns radiating an aura of ancient power.
Surrounding the coffin were several stone tables, each piled with decayed scrolls and shattered artifacts.
Su Xiaobai approached cautiously, brushing the dust off a brittle scroll.
As he unrolled it, the runes etched on the parchment sent a jolt of recognition through him.
"Runic script…" he murmured, his fingers tracing the faded characters.
This wasn't ordinary language. It was the language of the gods, the kind of thing that could rewrite reality itself.
He swallowed, glancing at the glowing cracks on the walls and the eerie stillness of the chamber. Everything about this place—the array, the embryo, the Fate-Deceiving Coffin—was far beyond the realm of mortals.
"This isn't just some ancient dungeon," he whispered, his voice barely audible. "This… this has to be the tomb of an immortal cultivator. None of this stuff belongs in the mortal world."
His gaze flicked to the glowing cracks along the walls, then back to the scroll.
The words seemed to leap off the page, charged with an energy that made his hair stand on end.
____
"I, Tian Yu, the Emperor of the Northern Heavens, inscribe this record with a heart burdened by grief and regret, for these may be the last words I leave in this world. My beloved... I remember the first time I met her, like it was carved into my very soul."*
Su Xiaobai's eyes skimmed the scroll's opening lines.
"Of course," he muttered, glancing up briefly at the cavern around him. "Why would I find treasure here when I can find another tragic backstory? Thanks, higher-ups. Really appreciate it."
Despite his grumbling, he read on. The scroll carried an undeniable temptation, the kind of story that pulled at even the most jaded hearts.
The tale began vividly, almost dreamlike.
Tian Yu described traveling across the desolate Northern Plains, a land of endless storms and winds that howled like grieving ghosts.
___
"The first time I saw her, the heavens wept, for even the skies knew that their most beautiful creation was no longer their own. I found her on the Northern Plains, lost and fragile in the cold. I had taken refuge in a small, broken-down hut as rain poured down from above. And there she was, a girl no older than fourteen, soaked to the bone, trembling in the storm. She was a vision of delicate strength, her eyes holding the wild determination of someone who had lost everything but refused to yield to fate."
"I had seen many beauties in my time, but none like her. Yue'er. That was her name. Her presence struck me like a blade to the heart. Even as I saved her from bandits that descended upon the hut, she showed no gratitude. No, instead, she raised her dagger against me, a foolish attempt to take my life. Ha-ha-ha... But even in her weakness, even in her desperation, there was a fire in her that called to me, and I knew... I could never let her go."