Inside the Heart Inquiry Pool.
Within Xu Xian's illusion, he looked at the Old Immortal before him, then at the phantom scene the old man had conjured. His mind raced...
Something was off.
Something was very off.
He struggled to remember.
Transmigration.
Houdao Village.
Hunting on the mountain.
Meeting a transcendent immortal.
Being asked if he wanted to pursue immortality.
And then...
"Young man, have you made up your mind? Will you choose to run over the five people on the main road, or the one person on the side path?"
The Old Immortal gazed at him with a face full of kindly concern.
Xu Xian slowly raised his head.
The truck had become a carriage.
The playing children had become adults lying down.
The question was the same; only the setting and the props had changed.
He surreptitiously gave his thigh a hard pinch.
'Hmm?'
It didn't hurt at all.
'Just as I thought.'
He looked up and met the Old Immortal’s eyes. A trace of cunning flickered in his gaze as he bared his teeth in a grin.
"I’ve made my choice."
"And your answer is?"
Xu Xian said, "I won't choose yet. I'll let the carriage go straight first and crush those five."
The Old Immortal looked perplexed. "Hmm?"
Xu Xian paused, his tone growing heavy and sinister. "And then, I’ll turn the carriage around and crush that last one too. I'll take 'em all out, hehe!"
The Old Immortal was dumbfounded...
Xu Xian narrowed his eyes, staring at the stunned old man. "Is there a problem?"
"You cannot do that," the Old Immortal said.
Xu Xian retorted, "Didn't you say I could control the direction of the carriage once? You never said I couldn't turn around. Who told them to sleep in the middle of the road for no reason? If they get crushed, they deserve it..."
The Old Immortal fell silent.
He was merely a phantom thought derived from the Heart Inquiry Bamboo, functioning like a pre-set program. He couldn't answer every possible question.
Right now, he had encountered the equivalent of a command error—he had crashed.
As time ran out, he dissipated like smoke, and the phantom carriage he had manifested vanished along with him.
"Tsk."
"Old man, don't leave!"
"Can't handle the heat?"
"Boring!"
When there was no response for a long time, Xu Xian gave a dismissive click of his tongue and thought to himself: 'Nice try, old-timer. You really thought you could play me?'
Beside the Heart Inquiry Pool, it was so silent that one could hear a pin drop.
Whether it was the elders or the Sect Leader, they were all like the Old Immortal in the illusion—frozen in place, utterly dazed.
Universal silence reigned.
Only after Xu Xian's phantom vision fully faded did they finally snap back to their senses.
They looked at one another, their expressions unreadable.
Crushing them all—is that even something a human would do?
The flattery and praise from a moment ago had become metaphorical slaps, stinging their own faces.
Li Qingshan lowered his head, his face darkening. He felt like he could kill someone right now.
Even the habitually calm Ye Xianyu didn't know what to say. Her face was stiff, her features twitching occasionally.
This wasn't a child.
This was a little demon.
And yet, despite everything, he had been judged as having passed the Second Inquiry of the Heart.
Because the carriage wasn't supposed to be able to turn around.
Because the rules didn't allow for everyone to be crushed.
Therefore, his choice was invalid, and since time had run out, it was treated as a forfeit—which counted as passing by exploiting a loophole.
Thus, the collective of Wendao Sword Sect fell into a deep silence. He had passed, but could they truly accept someone like this?
One of them plucked up the courage to ask in a weak, tentative voice, "Sect Leader, do you think we... can still take this child?"
Ye Xianyu answered with a question of her own: "What do all of you think?"
"His killing intent is too heavy. He absolutely cannot stay."
"But he did pass, after all."
"And he has a sword spirit root..."
Some said he couldn't stay based on morality. Others said they should follow the rules and cherish his talent.
Ye Xianyu asked, "Xiaoshan, you're the one who brought him back. What do you think?"
Li Qingshan's eyes flickered. Feeling the gaze of everyone around him, he bit the bullet and said, "Is it possible... he did it on purpose?"
"Oh?"
"Wait!"
Li Qingshan cleared his throat. "I believe we must respect the choice of the Heart Inquiry formation. A gentleman is judged by his heart, not his tracks. Even if he spoke some nonsense, the Heart Inquiry formation still let him pass. This proves that deep down, he doesn't actually think that way."
"Hmph!"
Though the skepticism was loud, no one refuted him. After all, the rules were set by their ancestors.
Ye Xianyu shook her head with a smile, backing him up. "What Xiaoshan says isn't without reason. The rules were set by our ancestors. If he passes the Heart Inquiry formation and we still shut him out, our Wendao Sword Sect's reputation would be dragged through the mud. Let's finish watching this Third Inquiry of the Heart first..."
She thought to herself that surely nothing unexpected could happen in this third inquiry.
The others nodded in agreement.
The Third Inquiry of the Heart.
There was a river, and on that river sat a bridge. Xu Xian stood in the middle of the bridge holding an axe. Unlike the previous two times, however, Xu Xian was no longer confused; he clearly remembered everything that had happened.
The illusions of the Heart Inquiry formation were deceptive tricks meant to bewitch the soul. Once one saw through the fact that it was an illusion, they would no longer sink into it. Even while physically within the illusion, their heart would remain as clear as a mirror.
Xu Xian was a transmigrator. His mind was naturally more mature than others, and as a transmigrator, his mental and soulful strength far exceeded the norm. Combined with the familiarity of the previous question, he had managed to achieve enlightenment from within the trial.
It was an accident, yet it was also within the realm of reason.
Looking at the unfamiliar surroundings, Xu Xian grumbled, "Again?"
Splash!
The axe in his hand suddenly fell into the water. Xu Xian found it bizarre; he clearly hadn't let go.
"What's the deal?"
He instinctively looked beneath the bridge. Where the axe had fallen, bubbles were gurgling to the surface of the river. More and more appeared, rising higher and higher.
Finally, an elegant man dressed in white robes and a green hat appeared above the water's surface, hovering in mid-air.
Floating before him were three axes, lined up in a row.
He narrowed his eyes with a gentle smile, drawing out his words. "Young man, I am the River Spirit. Did you just drop this old iron axe, or this spirit artifact axe, or perhaps this immortal artifact axe?"
There was the plain, unremarkable iron axe; the spirit artifact axe glowing with white light; and the shimmering gold immortal artifact axe. Even someone who knew nothing of cultivation could tell that the golden one was extraordinary.
This Third Inquiry of the Heart was about honesty. It was a test of whether one could maintain their original heart when faced with desire. As the saying goes, desires are like ravines that are hard to fill, or like a stone rolling down a mountain—once it starts, it cannot stop.
As long as one answered honestly, they would pass.
However, faced with such temptation, how many children of this age could remain unmoved?
At that moment, within the other illusions in the Heart Inquiry Pool, some people were insisting the immortal artifact axe was theirs. Others were settling for second best, claiming the spirit artifact axe. There were even some who confidently stated that all three axes belonged to them.
The results were predictable. They all failed.
However, all the elders had focused their gaze on Xu Xian’s illusion. More than how the others would choose, they wanted to know what Xu Xian would do. After all, based on his previous performance, the outlook was not optimistic.
Everyone was holding their breath. Li Qingshan, in particular, was swallowing repeatedly, his palms slick with sweat as he offered silent prayers...
He hadn't been this nervous in his entire life.
In the illusion...
Xu Xian could no longer hold it together. His cheeks twitched uncontrollably. Even the River Spirit had been dragged out? He was truly impressed.
He glanced at the River Spirit as if he were looking at an idiot. Then, shoving his hands in his pockets, he turned and walked toward the other side of the river.
"Nutcase!"
The River Spirit was stunned...
Li Qingshan was stunned...
The entire group of onlookers was completely stunned...
"He just... walked away?"
Rate on N.U.
