The viewing window on the heavy metal sliding door had long since closed.
The square inner room was plunged into absolute darkness, save for the faint, soft white light that occasionally flickered.
A rustling sound, akin to fabric rubbing together, suddenly broke the silence.
In the outer room, Wen Zhidie and the research department’s operators watched the inner chamber through night-vision cameras.
Huang Xiu, who had been lying on the bed, inexplicably sat upright, her upper body rigid, forming a perfect right angle.
“As expected, they played dirty,” Wen Zhidie muttered.
She picked up her intercom and pressed the talk button. “Inform them that I need to terminate this early.”
“Understood,” a slightly muffled male voice, seemingly affected by interference, crackled through the intercom.
“What’s the calculation result so far?”
Wen Zhidie kept her gaze fixed on the monitoring screen, not even glancing up.
The male student in the white coat turned his head towards the gigantic dashboard on the other side of the monitor.
The dashboard was embedded with a dense array of small indicator lights, collectively forming a large circle.
This large circle was evenly divided into five sections.
The small lights in each section glowed in distinct colors: white, green, red, and others.
At that moment, the indicator lights on the dashboard flickered on and off in an inexplicable pattern, cycling repeatedly.
With each cycle, one indicator light remained steadily illuminated.
The research student observed closely.
These consistently lit indicators were predominantly white, clustered within the area labeled ‘three’.
However, a scattered few also appeared in sections one and five.
After calculating the ratio of steadily lit to flashing indicators, the research student reported, “We’ve reached sixty percent of the calculation, but we can already roughly determine the lineage.”
“New student Huang Xiu’s preliminary lineage test results are: ninety percent White Tower, five percent Abyss, and five percent Warm Moon. Although the initial results are more extreme than an average person’s, they still comply with the safety regulations for testing.”
‘No wonder those Dragon Abominations grew so restless after her appearance. It must be the strong attraction of a shared lineage,’ Wen Zhidie mused, her internal query finally answered.
She lifted her head and commanded, “Stop the test. Open the door.”
“Understood!” The student casually pressed a few buttons on the control panel, and the Void Energy instrument immediately ceased its operation.
Huang Xiu’s helmet slowly stopped flashing.
The next second, accompanied by the faint whirring of gears, the hidden door connecting the outer room to the inner room slid open.
A somewhat harsh light streamed in from the doorway.
Darkness was banished to the corners.
Huang Xiu, still sitting upright on the test bed, stiffly turned her head, her eyes closed, towards the open door.
She opened her mouth, uttering obscure, incomprehensible syllables, like some mysterious incantation.
It sounded like a strange, foreign language.
Wen Zhidie didn’t know the answer. She stepped through the doorway into the room, fixed her gaze on Huang Xiu, and then raised and lowered her right hand.
“Awaken!”
Her voice boomed like the striking of a grand bell, forcefully suppressing those arcane syllables.
“Awaken!” Wen Zhidie called out again.
This time, the entire room vibrated in resonance, the tremors even reaching the outside world through the floor.
Students waiting in the corridor looked on, utterly bewildered.
Inside the room, Huang Xiu, directly facing the powerful sound, felt her eyelids twitch, on the verge of waking.
Seeing this, Wen Zhidie knew the moment was ripe.
She pressed her advantage, leaning close to the bed and whispering into Huang Xiu’s ear, “Huang Xiu, the test is over. Class dismissed.”
‘I want to kill you.’
Huang Xiu stared at the fake Huang Xiu in the distance, her fury and jealousy so intense they could evaporate an ocean.
She had once said that when angry, she wanted to kill.
Yet, she had never felt such overwhelming rage.
Even though she knew this was an illusion, she couldn’t suppress it; it was like an arrow poised on a bowstring.
‘So, kill him,’ the inhuman voice echoed in her ear once more.
Huang Xiu’s sclera slowly shifted from white to yellow.
She leaped from the giant rock, her right hand slightly clenched.
Thousands of thick, python-like dark green vines churned through the soil, shooting forward.
In this illusion, her ability was enhanced; she truly felt like the sovereign of plants.
She could freely control plants without even needing to transform.
The vines bound the illusory Huang Xiu, lifting him high into the air, forming a colossal character for ‘fire’.
‘It’s just an illusion… so killing him wouldn’t matter, right?’
Huang Xiu knew that if she tightened her right hand, these vines would instantly tear apart this disgusting imposter, quartering him in a gruesome display.
But for some reason, a sudden, inexplicable feeling told her she couldn’t do it, even if it was just an illusion.
“Why are you still hesitating? It’s just an illusion! No one will blame you for this!” The owner of the grand voice urged her.
“Stop your damned nagging! You’re more anxious than the emperor’s eunuchs!” Huang Xiu roared back, showing no mercy.
Her right hand was half-clenched, her fingertips trembling slightly. She was hesitating.
The yellow light in her eyes intensified once more, and small scales abruptly pierced Huang Xiu’s skin, their sharp tips emerging.
She didn’t notice the change, instead clutching her head as the voice urged her again.
This time, however, it wasn’t as gentle as before; it was filled with oppressive force, causing Huang Xiu’s head to throb agonizingly.
She pleaded, almost begging, “Let me think about it a little longer, just a little longer…”
“There’s no time left.”
The owner of that voice sighed. The next second, a woman’s voice suddenly rang out.
“Awaken.”
****
Huang Xiu slowly opened her eyes to a white ceiling and walls. Her back felt as if it rested against a sofa someone else had been sitting on.
It was warm and soft.
“Where am I?”
Huang Xiu’s eyes were filled with confusion. She looked up, meeting Wen Zhidie’s gaze.
Her eyes dropped, and she saw the arms wrapped around her.
At that moment, she abruptly realized what that softness was, and her small face instantly flushed crimson.
She shot upright, breaking free from the other person’s embrace.
“You’re in the testing room,” Wen Zhidie said with a smile.
“You just underwent a lineage test, so it’s normal for your mind to be a bit chaotic right now.”
“Oh, right, the lineage test.” Huang Xiu suddenly understood.
The teacher’s words acted like an anchor, instantly stabilizing her previously jumbled memories.
Huang Xiu began to recall more details, remembering everything from the illusion, meticulously.
Goosebumps immediately prickled her skin.
Even back in reality, remembering that fake Huang Xiu still made her feel cold and disgusted.
‘Infuriating, chilling, utterly infuriating!’
‘Did they just equip armor-piercing arrows?! How could it be so outrageous, directly hitting her weak point, precisely breaking through her defenses, and then still managing to disgust her?’
Huang Xiu patted her face and turned to Wen Zhidie. “Teacher, why are you here?”
She recalled that before the test began, she was the only one in the room, and Wen Zhidie hadn’t been with her initially.
“Also… that illusion… it seemed a bit problematic,” Huang Xiu said, rubbing her nose, a lingering sense of fear.
At the time, caught in the illusion, her memory had been obscured.
But now, looking back, that monster with eyes like colossal stars definitely had malicious intentions.
It had constantly tried to hint that she should kill the fake Huang Xiu.
‘And my emotions suddenly became extremely volatile then; it was most likely her doing,’ Huang Xiu thought to herself.
“I came specifically for this matter.”
Wen Zhidie looked at Huang Xiu, her expression serious.
“I will tell you the entire truth, every single detail. You must listen carefully.”
Huang Xiu swallowed, nodding.
“From the moment you entered Tiandu University, you have been targeted by an extremely powerful Void Realm creature,” Wen Zhidie stated coldly.
“Your recent illusion was tampered with by it.”
“Is it a Dragon Abomination?” Huang Xiu asked.
“Precisely. The one targeting you is a Dragon Abomination from the Dragon Abomination lineage, and not just any—it’s the great chieftain of a Dragon Abomination tribe, an Emperor-rank Dragon Abomination.”
Wen Zhidie recounted the entire origin of this operation to Huang Xiu.
From Yuan Fei’s initial proposal, to the principal’s approval, and the entire school’s execution, nothing was concealed.
“This operation was specifically to resolve the hidden danger you carry. Otherwise, once you left Tiandu University, no one could guarantee that Emperor-rank Dragon Abomination wouldn’t directly act.”
Wen Zhidie looked into Huang Xiu’s eyes.
“I’m telling you everything because I hope you won’t feel betrayed for having been kept in the dark.”
“You are a student of Tiandu University, and we are your teachers. We would never harm you.”
“Mn.” Huang Xiu nodded.
“However, if there’s a next time, I think you could inform me in advance. That way, I could cooperate better.”
Rather than inexplicably becoming a pawn in a plan, passively accepting others’ arrangements, she preferred to take proactive action.
Wen Zhidie was pleased with Huang Xiu’s response. “Indeed,” she replied, “this situation was different. Informing you beforehand would have only added psychological burden without any real benefit.”
“By the way, what’s my lineage?” Huang Xiu remembered the original purpose of the day and asked curiously.
“White Tower.”
“Ah, White Tower?”
Huang Xiu’s face fell in disappointment.
Even if it wasn’t her favorite Sun, Warm Moon would have been acceptable!
‘If I remember correctly, White Tower represents desire, insatiable greed, and craving. What kind of nonsense is that? It’s nothing like me at all!’ Huang Xiu grumbled internally.
She was merely a little more persistent about family and friendship than most, due to her past experiences.
She didn’t want to abandon any friends.
How could that be linked to insatiable greed?
She wasn’t some social terrorist who would try to befriend everyone she met.
“There’s no hierarchy among lineages. The Sun, representing positive emotions, and Warm Moon, representing all friendliness, might seem good, but you must understand these are also flaws.”
Wen Zhidie said with a hint of deeper meaning, “Sometimes, the troubles brought by the Sun and Warm Moon can be even greater, even more difficult to manage.”
“And think about it from another perspective: desire and insatiable greed, if channeled into knowledge or some positive endeavor, can actually be a form of active pursuit.”
‘That’s true too.’
Huang Xiu felt a little better after hearing this, reluctantly accepting the painful reality of being a White Tower.
Wen Zhidie rose from the bed. “Alright, let’s go out. Don’t keep the other students waiting too long.”
Huang Xiu nodded, turning to walk towards the metal sliding door.
As she watched the metal door slowly slide open to the right, she turned around and suddenly asked, “My master won’t be in any trouble, will he?”
Yuan Fei was incredibly strong; Huang Xiu had never seen him suffer a setback.
But this time, he had ventured into a Void Realm… and it was the Dragon Abomination’s lair, a massive Void Realm—the Dragon’s Den!
“Don’t worry, just look forward to your extra meal,” Wen Zhidie replied with a smile. She seemed to have more confidence than Huang Xiu.
Thinking of the melon meat from that day, Huang Xiu’s mouth began to water. She made an ‘okay’ gesture and quickly exited the inner room.
No sooner had she stepped out than she was surrounded by a somewhat anxious Ying Zhiyu, Bu Chenghua, and others.
They all questioned Huang Xiu about why she had stayed inside for so long.
Although Wen Zhidie hadn’t instructed Huang Xiu to keep it a secret, to avoid worrying her friends, Huang Xiu decided not to tell them about the plan.
After all, being inexplicably targeted by a Star Brocade Rank monster was not only absurd but also pointless to mention, beyond eliciting a heap of shock and sympathy.
“I’m S-rank; isn’t it normal for my test to take a bit longer?” Huang Xiu replied playfully to Ying Zhiyu’s question, earning an eye-roll from the latter.
“Naughty, Sister Xiu, so naughty…”
Sitting back on a chair in the corridor, Huang Xiu played with her phone, but her mind was on Yuan Fei, who had entered the Void Realm.
She wondered how the Old Scoundrel was faring now, and if he had succeeded.
‘Go, middle-aged man who can flip paper…’ Huang Xiu prayed silently.
On a vast, yellow landscape with barely any visible vegetation, deep, bottomless caves dotted the ground everywhere.
This was the Dragon’s Den.
At that moment, Yuan Fei suddenly sneezed.
“Achoo!” He rubbed his nose.
“Who’s talking about me behind my back?”
At his rank, let alone a cold, any physical ailments or difficult diseases would no longer affect him.
“Calculating the time, Huang Xiu should be awake… Ah, what a worry-free girl!”
A hint of a smile flashed in Yuan Fei’s eyes.
He was utterly satisfied with his new student, save for her occasional small temper tantrums.
“Do you sense it?” He looked up at the sky.
The old man with a sword, who had entered the Void Realm with Yuan Fei, was currently standing on his longsword, swaying as he continued to fly.
He pointed with his right hand. “Southwest direction!”
With that, the old man pivoted his sword, performed an aerial drift, and prepared to speed off towards the southwest.
However, because he hadn’t slowed down for the turn, the centrifugal force was too great.
The old man lost his footing, his feet slipped, and he actually slid off the sword.
“Hmph!” He let out a low grunt.
As he slid off the sword, his right hand shot upwards, quickly grasping the sword hilt.
Then, with a forceful tug, the old man executed a swift backflip, returning to the flying sword.
With his right hand forming a sword-finger gesture, his feet spread apart, and his body slightly bent forward, he re-assumed his stance and continued to fly on the sword.
“This old geezer, he can’t even wield a sword properly. After snatching a standard Shu Mountain flying sword artifact from someone else, he pretends to be a master sword cultivator every day.”
Yuan Fei spat. “Such a pretentious fellow. Don’t let me find an opportunity to steal your sword.”
The two continued their journey southwest for a while, finally stopping before a massive lake.
The old man closed his eyes for a few seconds, then opened them, stating with certainty, “This is it! No mistake!”
His ability to perceive helped him.
Before coming to the Void Realm this time, in order to capture the Emperor-rank Dragon Abomination that had been plotting against Tiandu University students in the shadows, he had temporarily memorized Huang Xiu’s mental fluctuations using the Void Energy instrument for lineage testing.
The similar mental fluctuations he now sensed were beneath this very pool of water.