Chu Hongluan had forgotten how she got back that day; all she could think about was the young man's unrestrained expression of his feelings, his arrogant eyes, and his dazzling demeanor.
She remembered Liu Jinghong's last words.
"But I know that this world ultimately respects the strong. As long as I become strong enough one day, I can easily break free from the shackles of this world. Therefore, I will not remain stagnant forever."
Stunning, absolutely stunning.
It was as if the characters from the book had come to life right before my eyes.
She always referred to this world as the world in the book, and thus viewed all the native inhabitants of this world as two-dimensional people, paper figures, flat and gray.
But now, the character Liu Jinghong has taken the lead over everyone else, becoming more vibrant and three-dimensional, more flesh and blood.
She could no longer raise the knife against him without hesitation, just like she had at the beginning.
In the blink of an eye, the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion's apprentice recruitment ceremony began.
Chu Hongluan arrived at the registration area at the foot of the mountain just in time.
The person in charge of registration was an inner disciple of the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion. He was currently busy counting the number of applicants. When he saw a shadow looming over him, he didn't even look up: "Name, age, cultivation level."
"Chu Hongluan, seventeen years old, early stage of Nascent Soul."
"What are you joking about? How could a Nascent Soul cultivator—" The disciple looked up impatiently, but fell silent the moment he saw Hongluan's face clearly. His tone softened involuntarily: "Miss, please don't joke with me. Putting aside the fact that reaching Nascent Soul at a hundred years old is already a rare genius in the world, if you reach Nascent Soul at seventeen, wouldn't we ordinary people be ashamed and drown ourselves in the lake?"
Chu Hongluan was helpless. Strictly speaking, she was indeed only seventeen years old. Not counting her previous life, she wasn't human in this life, so her age couldn't be calculated according to human time.
The disciple at the registration office brought up another spirit-testing plate and asked Chu Hongluan to place her hand on it and infuse it with spiritual power.
Chu Hongluan cautiously tossed in a tiny bit of spiritual energy, but the spirit-testing plate still exploded with a bang.
To be fair, the spirit-testing compass is quite accurate. For various reasons, the strength she can unleash only reaches the early Nascent Soul stage, but that doesn't mean her true cultivation level is far greater.
This spirit-testing disc can only detect up to the peak of the Nascent Soul stage; it would be strange if it didn't explode under overload.
The disciple at the registration office was completely dumbfounded. Even if it really was an early Nascent Soul cultivator, the spirit testing disc shouldn't have exploded, right?
He was about to ask her something else when he noticed the token hanging from her waist.
It was actually the Heavenly Secret Token from the Pavilion Master's wife!
This is something that the wives of the previous pavilion masters passed down to their daughters-in-law!
He finally remembered the "prospective young mistress" that had been the talk of the town a couple of days ago.
It wasn't a rumor after all?!
The disciple suddenly became excited, quickly and neatly registering Chu Hongluan's name, writing "early Nascent Soul stage" on it, and then personally led her to the first round of the entrance trial, saying, "This way, miss."
"This long staircase leading to the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion at the summit is called the Inquiry Ladder. It is also the arena for the first round of introductory trials. Normally, apart from being a bit steeper and longer, it is no different from an ordinary staircase. But once the restrictions are lifted, each step of the Inquiry Ladder becomes an illusion, and only those with a steadfast Dao heart and a pure and kind nature can climb to the top."
"I wish you a safe journey, young lady."
The long steps were crowded with people, including richly dressed scions of noble families and rough-looking youths with faded clothes, all vying to be the first to step onto the steps and compete for a good ranking.
Chu Hongluan wasn't in a hurry. She casually found a shady spot under a tree and sat down, leisurely waiting for everyone else to go up before she got up and slowly stepped onto the stairs.
Every step is a dream, every step a fleeting life.
Chu Hongluan walked extremely slowly, as if each step weighed a ton.
Illusions can evoke the deepest, most hidden desires in people's hearts.
for example--
She lived in the 21st century, a time she could neither relinquish nor forget, yet could never touch again—
Her beloved smartphone!
She really does cry!
On the high platform of the Tianji Pavilion's martial arts arena, the Pavilion Master's wife stared intently at the Time Mirror in front of her, which reflected Chu Hongluan's every move on the Questioning Heart Ladder.
Chu Hongluan looked terrible; beads of sweat dotted her forehead, and her lower lip was bitten until it bled.
What's wrong? She shouldn't be so emotionally unstable!
Liu Jinghong sat beside the Pavilion Master's wife, her brows furrowed, her eyes revealing undisguised heartache and worry, her slender fingers gripping the jade fan tightly.
Every step Chu Hongluan took was far too difficult. Fried chicken and hamburgers, cola and coffee, hot pot and barbecue, milk tea and sundaes flashed before her eyes like a revolving lantern.
Her consciousness gradually merged with her own in the illusion.
She felt herself struggling to keep her eyes open, as she stayed up all night reading a male-centric cultivation novel called "I Am a Sword Immortal".
As the story unfolded, she couldn't help but burst into tears over the hardships the male and female protagonists faced, and she cursed the world-destroying villain who repeatedly stole the male protagonist's opportunities a thousand times over.
Then, she felt a tightness in her chest and her vision went black. She then saw her great-grandmother.
She appears to have died suddenly due to an emotional breakdown.
When he opened his eyes again, all he saw around him was yellow sand, rusty broken halberds, and white bones.
Where is she?
She tried to raise her hand to rub her eyes, but she couldn't feel her body!
She can't move!
She tried to scream, but only heard a strange, clanging sound!
From initial fear, to later despair, and then to numbness.
She thought she was trapped here.
But there seemed to be no day or night here; she couldn't even clearly sense the passage of time.
When the wind blows, it swirls the sand into the air, turning the already dim sky into a hazy mist. When the wind dissipates, the sand falls back down, forming a thin layer on the endless expanse of withered bones.
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