Fang Xuan's thriller script of a "reborn villainous female lead" in his head churned for a while before he finally forced it down.
He stole a glance at Ning Xian beside him.
She still held the posture of reaching out to wipe the blood for him, a speck of crimson still clinging to her fingertip.
Her profile remained cold and elegant, her eyelashes long.
No matter how he looked at her, she seemed like a young girl untainted by the mundane world, occasionally prone to shyness.
The more Fang Xuan thought about it, the more it made sense, yet he seemed to want to confirm it one more time.
He reached out and gently poked Ning Xian's small face with his finger.
Mmh... soft... the texture was great.
"Hmm~?" Ning Xian was stunned by this sudden touch. She subconsciously turned her head, letting out a questioning hum.
She looked... dazed, and even a bit bewildered. Fang Xuan immediately felt at ease.
Look, a pure, harmless expression of confusion.
Could this be a reborn, decisive, and deep-scheming villainous female lead?
Fang Xuan withdrew his hand without a change in expression, casually making up an excuse. "Cough, there was... some dust."
Ning Xian blinked. Although she found her junior brother's behavior a bit strange, she didn't probe further.
She just raised her hand to touch the spot where he had poked, then continued to look warily into the depths of the hall.
"Let us go. It is not wise to stay here for long," she whispered, habitually trying to pull Fang Xuan behind her again.
The two continued toward the deeper part of the main hall, moving toward what might be the side halls or the rear hall.
Along the way, aside from the increasingly thick smell of blood and the occasional broken corpse, they encountered no other living souls.
Passing through a tall archway, a relatively narrow corridor appeared ahead, connecting several side halls.
"Boom!" With a thunderous explosion, an entire wall of a side hall ahead was shattered by a violent surge of spiritual energy.
A figure flew out backward, landing squarely on the ground less than ten feet in front of Fang Xuan and Ning Xian, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Fang Xuan took a closer look.
An old acquaintance.
It was the previously elegant Lu Mingxuan, Senior Brother Lu, who had invited them to travel together earlier.
However, at this moment, Senior Brother Lu looked rather pathetic.
His signature moon-white robes were torn in several places and covered in dust. His hair crown was crooked, and several scratches marked his face.
He scrambled up from the ground and shook his head, seemingly dazed from the shock.
"Cough, cough... Martial Nephew Fang?"
Before he could finish his sentence, a blood-soaked figure suddenly lunged out from the dust and ruins of the side hall, charging at the three of them with a longsword.
The spiritual energy fluctuations emanating from the person had reached the late-stage Void Core Realm, though they were similarly vain and unstable.
"Clang!"
A jet-black longsword suddenly interposed itself before the murderous spirit sword.
A massive recoil force surged through. The late-stage Void Core Realm cultivator was instantly sent flying.
The wrist Fang Xuan used to hold the black sword felt a slight numbness. This plundered late-stage Void Core Realm strength was indeed heavy.
"Junior Brother Fang, be careful..."
Lu Mingxuan had just started speaking when he came to an abrupt halt.
Because after Fang Xuan knocked back the madman, he simply stepped forward with a simple diagonal slash.
Fast!
The dark blade trailed an afterimage in the dim light.
The late-stage Void Core Realm cultivator, who looked like a mad demon, fell to the ground with a thud, blood gushing out.
Fang Xuan sheathed his sword, flicking off the blood droplets.
He could feel a faint wisp of spiritual energy traveling through the blade and merging into his body.
The spiritual energy within his dantian surged slightly, and the barrier loosened another notch. He was even closer to the late-stage Void Core Realm.
Indeed, just as the trial rules stated, killing... allowed one to level up.
Lu Mingxuan looked at the fellow disciple who had died instantly on the ground, his mouth hanging open. Eventually, he let out a heavy sigh.
"Junior Brother Fang... you... you also know about that rule, don't you? But I don't believe it! I don't believe this sinister trial truly has only one dead end!"
"Fellow disciples should work together and help each other. There will surely be other ways to leave this place! Junior Brother Fang, if we join forces, we will definitely find a way out!"
He spoke with heartfelt sincerity, paired with his disheveled yet still dignified appearance.
But Fang Xuan ignored him.
You don't believe it? He did.
This was a novel world, after all. The author's settings were absolute. If it said it was a gu-rearing arena, it was a gu-rearing arena. If it said only one could live, then in all probability, only one could truly survive.
Furthermore...
On the surface, this Senior Brother Lu's aura was still at the early-stage Void Core Realm, and even seemed a bit unstable because of his earlier pathetic state.
But Fang Xuan had plenty of investigative spiritual treasures. He could see the blood-baleful spiritual energy almost overflowing within Lu Mingxuan, even emitting black mist.
The total amount far exceeded the early-stage Void Core Realm, even approaching the threshold of the Golden Core Realm. Just how many people had he cut down?
...
"Can you find the remaining few?" Fang Xuan didn't take the bait about joining forces, instead asking directly in a calm tone.
Lu Mingxuan spoke: "I have a way to track the locations of the other disciples' identity tokens... But Junior Brother Fang, we should remain clear-headed. Fellow disciples should cooperate to get out of here."
Fang Xuan was too lazy to expose him and simply nodded. "Let's find the people first."
He now had a general idea of the situation.
Lu Mingxuan had the fragmented map given by his father. He likely knew the secrets of the Xuanli Hall and might have known the trial rules all along.
He had brought that group of "food" inside, likely planning from the start to devour his fellow disciples to quickly boost his own strength before seizing the inheritance.
After all, not everyone had a tool to track disciple identity tokens; it could only have been provided by Lu Qingsong.
As for himself... Fang Xuan estimated that he might not have been on Lu Mingxuan's original "menu," as he was an unexpected variable.
But Lu Mingxuan was greedy. Seeing his high talent and significant strength, he saw Fang Xuan as a "prime cut" and took the initiative to invite him, wanting to bring him into the fold to be eaten later.
...
"Alright... Fine." Lu Mingxuan seemed to make a difficult decision. He pulled a compass-like artifact from his robes and infused it with spiritual energy.
The compass needle spun rapidly before finally pointing toward a certain direction deeper into the hall.
"Over there... it seems there are only two spiritual energy responses left."
Fang Xuan looked in the direction he pointed. It led further back into the main hall, possibly toward the sleeping quarters.
Only two left?
In other words, aside from the three of them, the young elites of the Qingyun Sect who had entered the Xuanli Hall were basically all dead.
Such a casualty rate... if the Qingyun Sect higher-ups found out, they would probably cough up three liters of blood.
Fang Xuan took the lead toward that direction, while Ning Xian followed silently, remaining vigilant.
Rate on N.U.
