At that moment, Ying Bing seemed momentarily dazed.
Memories she had swept into the corners of her mind—ones she refused to dwell on—surged uncontrollably from the depths of her consciousness once more.
What if the rankings this time ended up just like last time?
Hot springs... and having to wear that outfit...
Her face remained expressionless, but her delicate fingers curled tightly around the hilt of Tianshuang.
"Oi, Ice Block?"
Li Mo waved his hand in front of her eyes.
Ying Bing lifted her gaze, her expression deadly serious.
"Never been. Never will."
"??"
Li Mo scratched his head, a forest of question marks sprouting in his mind.
Since when did the Ice Block’s whole vibe change like this?
Weird.
Ying Bing exhaled softly and turned her gaze toward the depths of the secret realm.
The aura of the Blood Phoenix Essence grew ever closer.
Those scenes in her mind... they would never come to pass.
BOOM—
A towering pillar of white light dissipated, leaving behind only a solitary gateway.
Through it, faint glimpses of bronze steps could be seen—steps that seemed out of place in this era.
And atop those steps stood four palaces.
Each one was ancient and majestic, their structures rugged and imposing, distinct from the refined elegance of the Great Yu Dynasty, evoking an instinctive awe in all who beheld them.
All of them hovered midair.
"This must be... a construct from the Great Shang era."
"The Great Shang worshipped the Bronze Divine Tree, with the Hundred Birds as their totems. The Blood Phoenix pledging allegiance to them makes sense."
A voice spoke up.
Li Mo turned and saw it was Senior Brother Ouyang, the chief disciple of Ruyi Peak.
The crowd erupted in murmurs, their eyes alight with shock and excitement.
A secret realm from the Great Shang era, preserved so flawlessly until now?
The opportunities hidden within must far surpass anything they could imagine!
[Second Trial: Ascend the Azure Ladder.]
[Those who enter the fourth palace shall witness Creation and Eternity.]
The trial’s rules were simple—brutally so.
The bronze steps and the four palaces were the trial itself.
In essence, it was no different from the Stairway to Heaven.
Whether you understood or not, all you had to do was climb.
Creation and Eternity!
Who dared claim such things?
Yet the sheer audacity of the proclamation, paired with the mystique of the floating bronze palaces, lent it an air of credibility.
And so, one by one, they stepped through the gateway.
"This secret realm isn’t quite what I expected..."
Li Mo found the whole thing a bit suspicious.
Why was this place structured like some kind of entrance exam?
The first trial had tested combat prowess and cunning, even seeming to encourage bloodshed.
Now the second trial had thrown out a carbon copy of the Stairway to Heaven.
This wasn’t just wild speculation from a novel reader’s perspective—he’d seen real inheritances before.
The one beneath Qingyuan, for instance, had no convoluted trials.
If the inheritance didn’t choose you, you’d never even find the place.
Was he overthinking this?
...
Once everyone had entered, the gateway vanished.
But those at the front merely exchanged glances, none daring to take the first step.
No one wanted to be the guinea pig.
Who knew what would happen once they set foot on those steps? Better to let someone else test the waters.
"Hmph. To think you lot are nothing more than a pack of cowards."
Bai Jinghong strode forward, chin raised, his face brimming with arrogance as he ascended the first step.
He frowned slightly but showed no other reaction.
Only then did the others follow.
By this stage, the surviving disciples of Qingyuan Sect had naturally grouped together—aside from Li Mo’s trio, only Ouyang, another elite disciple, and Tie Qi remained.
Li Mo and Ying Bing took the lead.
The moment his foot touched the first step, realization dawned.
This wasn’t like the Stairway to Heaven.
That trial tested one’s innate talent—the greater the talent, the lighter the pressure.
But here? No pressure at all.
"Just a simple path to the palaces, then?"
Just as the thought crossed his mind, Li Mo heard a whisper in his heart. But when he focused, it was gone.
A glance at the others showed no reaction.
The real trial must lie within the palaces...
"Hahaha! Money... so much money! And rare treasures! Divine weapons!"
Suddenly, someone burst into mad laughter, staggering toward the edge of the steps—
And then stepped off into the abyss below.
The chasm was deep. No sound of impact followed. Perhaps he’d been ejected from the realm.
"Huh?"
Li Mo was still puzzling over it when his vision blurred.
Stacks of crimson banknotes materialized before him.
Li Mo: "..."
The illusion lasted only a second before fading.
Yeah... money from his past life wasn’t exactly useful here.
"Money?"
"I saw a divine weapon just now..."
"So this trial tests whether we can resist greed?"
...
No fools had made it this far. They quickly grasped the trial’s true nature.
Thus, very few fell after that.
Soon, most had reached the first palace.
BOOM—
The palace doors swung open, revealing a dazzling sight.
Piles of treasures filled the hall—divine weapons, spiritual herbs, elixirs, pearls the size of fists, mountains of crimson gold... wealth beyond measure.
Gulp.
"Good heavens... how much is this?"
"My sect’s vault doesn’t hold a hundredth of this!"
"Crimson gold! A single tael trades for ten of regular gold—and here it’s stacked like firewood!"
These were all people of the world, many of whom claimed to disdain wealth.
But how many could truly resist its allure?
Cultivation was an expensive pursuit!
In some ways, money mattered more than talent.
[Kneel and kowtow to enter.]
The message was simple.
A few bows, and you could claim these riches.
But it also meant forfeiting the rest of the trial.
Many hesitated. But in the end, some couldn’t resist.
"Damn it all! I’ve fought tooth and nail for things like this. With this kind of wealth, what can’t I get?"
"Who knows if the later rewards will even be ours? Might as well split this haul!"
"What if the first palace’s treasures are the best?"
...
Out of fifty, over a dozen entered the palace.
Thirty-some remained.
"Worthless dross."
Bai Jinghong scoffed and pressed onward.
Tie Qi’s breathing grew heavy as he eyed the wealth, but seeing someone else remain unmoved, he held his ground.
"Brother Li... you’re not interested in this?"
"Oh, I am."
"Then why...?"
"They’re just not offering enough."
Tie Qi: "??"
What kind of nonsense was that?
Even if Li Mo came from wealth, there was no way his family’s coffers could rival this.
He clearly didn’t care and was deliberately saying it like that.
Ying Bing naturally had no need to explain further.
The ice block found counting money quite enjoyable, but only if she could watch it accumulate bit by bit.
Ouyang didn’t seem interested in money either.
As for Senior Brother Xiaobao...
The things inside weren’t even worth as much as he himself.
esick Sect? Well, at least it's considered a respectable orthodox sect. Wait a minute— What kind of vibe are you all giving off? Shouldn’t this be a love-struck, romance-obsessed sect? Why does everyone here sound more like demonic cultivators? "Master, today he’s getting married. This disciple wishes to descend the mountain and crash the wedding, then toy with him to death right in front of his wife..." "Elder, I only got into your sect through connections, so why won’t you teach me anything?" "Because I also became an elder through connections." Thankfully, Su Ji was just an outer sect labor disciple. Surely, nothing too crazy would— "Junior Brother, you’ve broken through to Qi Refining. Once you sever your useless spiritual root, you can officially become an outer sect disciple." "The Great Dao is merciless. Don’t let a worthless spiritual root waste your essence and spirit, hindering your cultivation." Is this really the Lovesick Sect? ... Three years later, Su Ji sat in the seat of the Lovesick Sect’s sect master, sighing with emotion. His rise to this position all started when his junior sister adamantly insisted on preserving his "spiritual root." "Mmm... Senior Brother, what’s our relationship now?" "Stop talking. Keep going." "By the way, that newly promoted top-tier sect—didn’t they come to buy our Love Beans?" "One top-grade spirit stone per Love Bean—is that really so expensive?" "I suspect they’ve eaten too many Love Beans." "Now they’re lovesick." Well, this really is the Lovesick Sect after all.
【Prologue: The Beginning of It All – Use holy water to heal the saintess tainted by demonic energy, then converse with her.】 Shen Nian stared at his older sister sipping yogurt, lost in thought. So you’re telling me my sister is the saintess, and yogurt is the holy water? 【Main Quest 1: Brave Youth, Become an Adventurer! Reward: Rookie Adventurer Title.】 【Side Quest 1: Find the Adorable Kitty! Reward: 1000 Gold Coins.】 Shen Nian: "Wait, I’m a high school senior here—did some guy who got isekai’d accidentally bind his system to me?" Hold on, completing quests gives gold rewards? Titles even boost stats? Is this for real? (A lighthearted, absurd campus comedy—not a revenge power fantasy.)
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
d intelligence to keep the plot moving, and sometimes even the protagonists are forced into absurdly dumb decisions. Why does the A-list celebrity heroine in urban romance novels ditch the top-tier movie star and become a lovestruck fool for a pockmarked male lead? Why do the leads in historical tragedy novels keep dancing between love and death, only for the blind healer to end up suffering the most? And Gu Wei never expected that after finally landing a villain role to stir up trouble, she’d pick the wrong gender! No choice now—she’ll just have to crush the protagonists as a girl!
