After walking out of Fengluan Hall and returning to the relatively normal palace corridors, Ning Xian finally breathed a secret sigh of relief.
She felt the heat on her face finally beginning to subside a little.
However, the bottle of pills and the jade slip hidden in her sleeve still felt as hot as a branding iron against her skin.
.......
The two of them headed toward the general direction of what appeared to be the main hall.
Quickening their pace and passing through several ruined archways, the most magnificent structure, the Xuanli Main Hall, reappeared in their field of vision.
Pushing open the half-closed palace doors, a thick scent of blood rushed toward them.
The light inside the hall remained dim, but several corpses lay scattered across the floor. Blood flowed freely across the blue jade floorboards, not yet congealed.
Fang Xuan’s eyes narrowed slightly.
These corpses... were the group that had been following Lu Mingxuan just moments ago.
None of them were ordinary direct disciples; they were almost all the cream of the crop among the younger generation of each peak, at least at late-stage Foundation Establishment.
And here, even a Half-Step Void Core had died.
They died in various ways, but the wounds were mostly from swords and sabers, clearly the result of a fierce battle between cultivators.
Fang Xuan frowned, a string of questions popping up in his mind.
This script isn't right, is it?
In the early stages of secret realm exploration, even if there’s conflict, it usually involves secret tripping and fighting over treasures.
Who starts with such a tragic, large-scale massacre of their own kind? And the ones dying are all the elite seeds among the direct disciples.
If they leave the secret realm like this, wouldn't the Qingyun Sect higher-ups go insane? The younger generation would be completely wiped out.
Is this... how the plot is supposed to go?
He instinctively looked toward the end of the hall.
That massive dragon throne still stood tall on the high platform, and that withered skeleton clad in tattered, magnificent robes still sat upright upon it.
Its empty eye sockets seemed to silently mock the blood and chaos below.
The moment Fang Xuan’s gaze touched that skeleton—
A familiar, massive mental fluctuation swept over him once again.
Fang Xuan only felt the scene before him shift. When it became clear again, he was standing in a strange, pure white space.
Ning Xian stood beside him, her face equally guarded.
A majestic voice echoed directly in their minds, speaking an ancient language that they somehow understood perfectly:
【Xuanli Trial, initiated.】
【This hall shall be the trial grounds.】
【There is but one rule: Only one person may inherit the Imperial Path and walk out alive. The rest shall serve as nourishment.】
【Slay your enemies, seize their blood essence and cultivation to strengthen yourself. The final survivor shall receive the Xuanli Imperial Lineage and master the Way of the Son of Heaven!】
The voice faded, and the illusion shattered.
The two of them returned to the blood-soaked hall.
So that was it.
This entire Xuanli Hall wasn't some treasure vault; it was a massive gu-rearing arena.
A death trial designed to filter for a so-called emperor.
Everyone who entered the hall was forcibly informed of the rules.
Only one person could leave alive, and by killing others, one could plunder their cultivation and blood essence to quickly grow stronger.
This was very typical of a novel. When authors got writer's block, they loved to pad the story with this kind of nonsense. It was understandable.
No wonder these elite disciples of the Qingyun Sect were slaughtering each other like madmen.
Under the extreme temptation of leveling up through murder, combined with the terrifying stimulus of only one person being able to live.
Fellowship and sect rules were useless.
.......
The hall was abnormally quiet now, with only the scent of blood lingering.
The survivors were hiding somewhere, perhaps licking their wounds in the shadows, or perhaps searching for their next prey.
"Be careful."
Ning Xian sensed hidden figures and whispered a reminder.
Her cold eyes scanned every dark corner of the hall, and she inconspicuously shielded Fang Xuan, placing him further behind her.
Right then.
"Die!!"
A sharp, crimson sword light slashed directly at the back of Fang Xuan's head.
The ambusher had clearly been planning this for a long time, timing it perfectly for the moment the two had just recovered from the illusion's information and their guard had slightly slipped.
But Fang Xuan simply took a casual half-step to the side.
Boom!
The crimson sword light grazed his robe and slammed into a stone pillar behind where he had been standing. Stone shards flew as a deep sword mark was left behind.
Fang Xuan turned around and looked at the attacker.
It was one of the direct disciples who had been following Lu Mingxuan. His eyes were now blood-red, and a manic smile was plastered on his face.
The spiritual energy fluctuations around him were extremely unstable yet abnormally surging.
He had already reached the middle-stage Void Core Realm, but this spiritual energy was hollow and erratic, clearly forcibly raised through slaughter and plundering.
"Want to talk?" Fang Xuan asked in a flat tone.
"Talk? Hahaha!" The disciple laughed wildly, his voice hoarse. "Talk about how I'm going to kill you? If I kill you, I can take another step forward!"
"This power... this power is too wonderful! I want to kill everyone! I want to reach the Golden Core! Hahaha!"
Fang Xuan frowned. He had originally wanted to catch a live one to ask about the situation, such as where Lu Mingxuan was.
Facing several more frenzied sword lights slashed his way, he didn't dodge completely this time.
Instead, he held his fingers together like a sword. A condensed strand of spiritual energy struck first, cutting into the opponent’s weak point, intending to disarm him.
But the madman didn't even try to dodge. Ignoring his own openings, he grinned and poured even more spiritual energy into his sword, taking a stance to perish together.
Squelch!
Although Fang Xuan’s spiritual energy knocked the opponent's main blade aside.
In his attempt to keep the man alive, he accidentally let a stray ripple of sword light cut a shallow gash on his face. A bead of blood seeped out.
'Can't communicate with him...' Fang Xuan shook his head, preparing to strike harder to settle this nuisance.
Ning Xian, seeing the bead of blood sliding down Fang Xuan’s face, felt her pupils contract. She instinctively clenched her hand...
An extremely cold sword intent descended instantly.
Thud, thud, thud, thud—!
The middle-stage Void Core disciple, who was laughing wildly and preparing to pounce again, was instantly sent flying.
In the next second, his arms and legs were simultaneously severed from his torso.
He didn't even have time to scream before he became a limbless torso, hitting the ground with a thud.
Only his chest and head remained, twitching as the light in his eyes rapidly faded.
Fang Xuan: "!!!"
What the hell?!
He turned his head to look at Ning Xian beside him.
Ning Xian slowly lowered her fingers, her cold face devoid of any expression.
She simply turned her gaze toward Fang Xuan, focusing on the wound on his face cut by the sword light.
Her brow furrowed tightly as she reached out, using her fingertip to wipe away the overflowing blood.
"Are you alright?" she asked, her voice still cold.
Fang Xuan just instinctively swallowed hard.
Why did he feel... a chill running down his spine?
This isn't right, is it?
Was Senior Sister... always this ruthless?
He knew Ning Xian would be a ruthless person in the future, but that was supposed to be after her rebirth when she started refining the myriad living beings and such.
Wait a minute...
No... no way...
Thoughts raced through Fang Xuan’s mind as several previously ignored details connected.
From the very beginning when they encountered that weird black tai sui, to Shen Chen suddenly having them leave the mountain early to deal with evil cultivators, to Ning Xian’s sword intent casually shattering space to enter the secret realm.
And now, this imperial trial in the secret realm that clearly didn't match the original plot, and Ning Xian’s brutal attack that completely defied her setting as a "weak tragic female lead in the early stages"...
This pace of advancement, this plot direction...
If this were a novel, the current plot should be:
Ning Xian accidentally gets caught in this cruel trial, kills all the elite younger generation of the Qingyun Sect through some means, and her strength skyrockets?
And then...
She would be forced or choose to defect from the Qingyun Sect, hunted down by the so-called righteous path of the world?
Then she would keep getting stronger in desperate situations, eventually refining all living beings, toppling the Qingyun Sect, and ascending to the upper realm?
Isn't this fucking...
Fang Xuan sucked in a cold breath.
Could it be... that this cold and fragile-looking senior sister of his, who occasionally got shy and cooked delicious food...
Wasn't the "pitiful girl waiting to be saved" in the first timeline as he had thought?
Instead, she was... a rebirth big female lead who had already died once and returned for revenge with max-level memories and hatred?
Impossible... he must be overthinking it.
Even if she was a bit ruthless and strong.
It was also possible he remembered the plot wrong. Otherwise, if she really were the blackened senior sister after rebirth, he might have saved her, but the result would be different.
Instead of a soft and weak little wife, he would end up with a yandere wife who forcibly possessed him after her blackening. The difference was too huge.
Impossible, impossible. If she really were a reborn one, she would have stabbed him to death long ago. Why would she keep him around until now?
Rate on N.U.
