Seeing that Lin Jiu was still alive, Ji Yuan, Wang Weizhi, and Liu Qingyin’s gazes all flickered sharply.
Three pairs of eyes locked onto her intently. After a moment, Wang Weizhi broke the silence with a smile. “I thought you were dead just now. I even told myself that after I seized the secret realm’s treasure, I would hunt down Qin Yunxi and avenge you.”
He strode toward Lin Jiu, stopping at a deliberate distance, his eyes faintly vigilant.
Lin Jiu didn’t look at them. Instead, she bent down, picked up the two halves of the crow’s body, pieced them together, and quietly tucked it into her arms, just as she did when it was alive. The weight of it against her chest filled her heart with a bittersweet warmth.
The next moment, a quicksand emerged, and the sandfall slowly parted to the sides, like a curtain being lifted by invisible hands. The flowing sand beneath their feet spiraled faster and faster, gradually forming four whirlpools of similar size, separating the four individuals on the sandy platform.
As the quicksand poured into the whirlpools, the platform split into four. Each person stood atop a rapidly spinning whirlpool of sand, yet strangely, their movements remained unaffected despite standing on the shifting grains.
The whirlpool beneath Liu Qingyin’s feet was the first to move. With a long trail of sand flowing behind it, it rose into the air and disappeared behind the sandfall.
Wang Weizhi hurriedly turned to Lin Jiu and said, “I’ll take care of these two for you, and then I have something to tell you!”
Before he finished speaking, the sand whirlpool beneath his feet lifted him into the air. His crimson headband fluttered wildly, adding a dash of vigor to the youth full of spirit. The sand whirlpool under Lin Jiu’s feet also began to move. This sensation somehow reminded her of the time Wei Liang carried her flying on his sword, so she slightly bent her body to maintain balance.
Passing through the sandfall where fine grains of sand trickled down like rain, a bright, dazzling light pierced her eyes. Lin Jiu instinctively raised her hand slightly to block it.
In this round, the four remaining contenders atop sand whirlpools would be transported to a vast space and dropped into the east, south, west, and north corners, respectively. In the center of the space, a thatched hut floated midair with Huang Chuan inside. Once all four had arrived, Huang Chuan’s ethereal echoed in the air: “Honored guests from afar, Huang Chuan has prepared tea and awaits you.”
Those who made it this far were no ordinary individuals. Even without any guidance, they could roughly discern Huang Chuan’s location. At this level, each of them could control their sand whirlpool freely. Like a funnel—which it indeed was—sand grains continuously drained away. The faster the movement or the more maneuvers performed, the faster the sand would be consumed, and once they ran out, the individual would be eliminated.
Reaching Huang Chuan’s hut wasn’t too difficult. Although the journey was fraught with ferocious beasts, mutated plants, and numerous traps, as long as one proceeded cautiously, there wouldn’t be major issues.
The biggest problem, however, lay in the gale zone surrounding the hut. Entering the gale zone would exponentially increase sand consumption, making it impossible to sustain until reaching Huang Chuan.
Thus, before entering the gale zone, one had to seize another’s sand whirlpool and use it to replenish their sand, ensuring they had enough to reach Huang Chuan’s thatched hut.
Lastly, this final level actually hid an unspoken rule: participants could attack one another!
According to the novel, Liu Qingyin successfully incited infighting among the Wang family members outside the gale zone. One of the men, in a fit of rage, stabbed another with a sword and kicked him off his whirlpool. To her surprise, the attacker wasn’t eliminated but instead gained the victim’s sand whirlpool, enough to safely cross the gale zone.
Of course, this person would soon fall into Liu Qingyin’s honey trap. With just a few words, she persuaded him to help her seize Wang Weizhi’s sand whirlpool, promising they would proceed to Huang Chuan together.
The result was predictable. Liu Qingyin and Wang Weizhi had already formed a rapport during the third level. With just a glance, they understood each other’s intentions. Wang Weizhi pretended to fall for Liu Qingyin’s ploy, then joined forces with her to ambush the manipulated man. Wang Weizhi took the person’s replenished sand whirlpool and then gave his original whirlpool to Liu Qingyin. In this way, both had enough sand to cross the gale zone.
They agreed to compete fairly on their skills and speed, but halfway through, they turned on each other, attacking viciously. After a dramatic battle of infatuation and betrayal, they both managed to step into Huang Chuan’s hut.
Lin Jiu recalled these details while slowly moving her sand whirlpool forward. Thanks to the ‘cheat,’ she knew that moving slowly enough would minimize sand loss.
At present, two critical pieces of information were known only to her and Liu Qingyin: first, only two people could ultimately enter Huang Chuan’s hut; second, attacking others was allowed for this level.
Her trump card was the Lotus Shatter. Unfortunately, she had already revealed this ability to Liu Qingyin at the secret realm’s entrance while fending off Qin Yunxi’s sword, and the smart female lead would surely have prepared accordingly. While the lotus’ attack power was enough to kill a Nascent Soul cultivator, it was only effective against ordinary Nascent Souls—not freakishly strong individuals like Liu Qingyin, Wang Weizhi, and Ji Yuan.
Lin Jiu’s initial plan had been to avoid Liu Qingyin, seize the whirlpool of another Wang disciple, and sneak into the hut while Liu Qingyin and Wang Weizhi were busy fighting. But now, the situation had changed drastically—none of the three opponents were ones she could easily defeat.
The current situation didn’t look optimistic. While her Lotus Shatter was formidable, neither Ji Yuan nor Wang Weizhi was an easy target, and missing the first strike would leave her open to counterattack. To pass this level smoothly, her best option was to find Wang Weizhi before Liu Qingyin did and form an alliance with him.
If Liu Qingyin got to him first, she would have no hope left.
Wang Weizhi’s hurried words to her before parting resurfaced in Lin Jiu’s mind—“I’ll take care of these two, and then I have something to tell you!”
The charming youth spoke with such earnestness, his long, dark eyes shimmering with a captivating brilliance. Any naive girl would surely be swayed by his words.
But Lin Jiu’s reaction was to scoff mockingly. Tell her something? Well, of course he was eager to talk to her—after all, her mysterious ‘resurrection’ ability and knowledge about this level were undoubtedly invaluable.
‘Ha! Men, they are nothing but liars!’
She raised her hand and gently stroked the black crow’s corpse through her clothing, murmuring to herself, “You’re indeed the best. These people are worse than beasts.”
Though she had seen through Wang Weizhi’s character, for now at least, their interests aligned, allowing them to maintain the superficial ‘camaraderie.’ By any account, he was her only choice for an ally.
Having made up her mind, Lin Jiu looked toward the west—she was the third to enter this stage and was now in the south. The order of transmission was likely east, west, south, and north. Since Wang Weizhi had entered before her, he was most likely in the west.
Given Wang Weizhi’s proud and unruly temperament, he would undoubtedly rush toward the center upon hearing Huang Chuan’s voice. By the time he realized the sand under his feet was rapidly depleting, he’d likely already covered nearly half the distance. At that point, he would definitely slow down and start looking for a way to replenish his sand.
Lin Jiu carefully recalled the map of this level. Once she confirmed the distribution of traps and the like, she picked the shortest route and leisurely made her way to a large sandpit in the west, ready to lie in wait for Wang Weizhi.
The plants and creatures on this level were incredibly large. The weeds on the ground towered into the sky, and even the thinnest veins on their leaves were as thick as millstones. Lin Jiu maneuvered her sand whirlpool to stop beneath a giant leaf. A ladybug was perched motionless on the leaf, soundly asleep under the bright sun.
Lin Jiu waited quietly for Wang Weizhi to arrive. In this bright and warm setting, her thoughts inadvertently began to drift, contemplating her next steps. Huang Chuan had promised that if she completed this trial, she would become the true master of the True Illusion Mirror. With the mirror in hand, she would no longer be at anyone’s mercy—even Wei Liang would have no way to stop her if she ever wanted to escape.
She would soon be free.
‘But what then?’ Warmed by sunlight, Lin Jiu squinted slightly. Her past life had left her deeply distrustful of relationships, but the crow’s death just now felt like a warm spring welling up in her cold, hardened heart. If even a beast could be so loyal, then surely there were humans who could be sincere as well.
The road ahead of a cultivator was long; surely, she would one day meet kindred spirits who would treat her sincerely.
As for the debt she owed Wei Liang, she would repay it—just not in the way he expected.
A faint smile gradually appeared on Lin Jiu’s face. Bathed in the radiant glow of the bright sunlight amidst the dense foliage, she appeared breathtakingly beautiful, embodying perfection and serenity.
It was this scenery that first caught Wang Weizhi’s eyes upon his arrival. For a moment, he was utterly captivated, forgetting to even breathe, fearing that any noise could break the picture-perfect tranquility.
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