While Xu Yi searched for the formation's core in the white space, the others were also undergoing their own trials.
Xiong Zhuangzhuang was awakened by the cold.
Upon waking, he found himself lying in a world of ice and snow. Before he could figure out what was happening, the ground began to shake.
He looked up, his pupils contracting sharply.
A colossal Earth Bear was approaching him.
Xiong Zhuangzhuang could even see the sharp teeth in the Earth Bear's mouth and the scarlet color in its beastly eyes.
This scene felt so familiar.
As Xiong Zhuangzhuang stabilized his footing, he was astonished to realize that this was exactly the scene of his first encounter with Xiong Da!
Except that Xiong Da had been replaced by an Earth Bear on the verge of adulthood.
"Roar."
The Earth Bear stared at Xiong Zhuangzhuang and let out a deafening roar.
Xiong Zhuangzhuang heard a bloodthirsty tone within it.
Although he didn't know why he was here, he knew that defeating this Earth Bear would allow him to investigate further.
He took out a pair of gauntlets from his storage belt, put them on, and made a provocative gesture towards the Earth Bear.
"Come on!"
A fierce expression appeared on Xiong Zhuangzhuang's face.
"Roar, roar!"
The Earth Bear and Xiong Zhuangzhuang soon clashed.
...
Compared to Xiong Zhuangzhuang's trial, Yin Li's was undoubtedly much milder.
She was competing in musicality with a small, ornate Nightingale.
The ornate Nightingale was exquisitely delicate in appearance, highly deceptive, and possessed a naturally beautiful singing voice.
The music it sang could not only confuse the mind but also kill imperceptibly, making it a rare species among birds and beasts that excelled in sonic attacks.
Yin Li's contracted beast was precisely an ornate Nightingale.
When she had subdued the ornate Nightingale, she relied on her superb Pipa skills to overpower its singing, thus gaining its submission.
Her demonic beast had recently entered a dormant state, and when she saw the ornate Nightingale here, she almost mistook it for her own.
When this ornate Nightingale attacked her, she took out her Pipa and strummed the strings.
Two different types of sound waves initiated an invisible battle.
...
In other spaces.
Zhou Cheng and True Person Chi Yu, along with their demonic beasts, were competing against demonic beasts of similar appearance and cultivation.
Shiliu was trapped in a deep well, desperately flapping her wings in an attempt to fly out.
The snow leopard was maneuvering on a cliff face that towered into the clouds.
All beings had entered their own trials, but only Lu Zaiye sat quietly in a spacious plaza, his gaze fixed on a statue carved from the finest jade in the center of the plaza.
It was a statue of a woman, with a beautiful face, an alluring figure, and flowing robes.
What was most striking were her eyes, which seemed to hold nothing in contempt, exuding an air of noble dominance that commanded involuntary submission.
The sculptor had clearly understood the woman intimately, bringing the statue to life.
Lu Zaiye stared at the statue for a long time, then slowly closed his eyes, as if doing so would allow him to avoid confronting unwelcome memories.
...
"Ancestor, bless me, I finally found it."
Xu Yi's eyes were dark circles beneath them, but her face was filled with excitement.
After reviewing dozens of jade slips related to formations, she had finally found the key to breaking the formation.
Following the records in the jade slips, she transformed her hands, slowly casting one complex hand seal after another.
As the last hand seal was completed, an intricate pattern suddenly formed.
Xu Yi took a deep breath, placed her hands above the pattern, and pressed down forcefully towards the ground.
Crack, crack, crack.
A sound of fine cracks echoed.
A crack suddenly appeared in the pure white space.
The crack widened, followed by a second, a third... more cracks continuously appeared.
Boom!
The pure white space finally shattered.
Xu Yi felt a strong sense of weightlessness, and when she opened her eyes again, she had arrived somewhere else.
"Lu Zaiye!"
Seeing Lu Zaiye, Xu Yi's eyes welled up with tears.
Although she had feigned composure all along, she had been truly afraid of being trapped in the secret realm again, unable to escape.
Life in the secret realm was too monotonous and dull; she couldn't even bear to recall it. If she were truly trapped again, she didn't know if she could endure it.
Now that she saw a familiar face, she could finally shed that invisible pressure.
Lu Zaiye opened his eyes and saw Xu Yi looking at him with bright eyes, a trace of dependence in their depths that she herself hadn't noticed.
Lu Zaiye's eyelashes trembled, and a complex emotion arose within him.
However, before he could savor it, he saw Xu Yi's pupils tremble, and she let out a gasp, her face filled with disbelief.
Lu Zaiye followed her gaze, his own eyes freezing abruptly.
Xu Yi had seen the statue and reacted.
Why was she so surprised?
She shouldn't recognize the statue.
Xu Yi stared at the statue, a silent scream echoing in her heart!
Liu Jinghong!
This statue was Liu Jinghong!
Why was her statue here?
Was this place related to her?
Xu Yi felt as if a basin of cold water had been poured over her head from top to bottom, her joy of escaping extinguished, replaced by a chilling dread.
She hadn't expected to suddenly see something related to Liu Jinghong in the Myriad Monster Ridge.
Liu Jinghong had already ascended. She thought she and Liu Jinghong would have no further connection, and she had subconsciously erased Liu Jinghong's existence from her life.
But seeing the statue so suddenly made Xu Yi realize that she was far from as nonchalant as she appeared.
She was wary of Liu Jinghong.
No, more accurately, she feared Liu Jinghong.
From what she had seen and heard in her dreams, she knew clearly what a powerful cultivator Liu Jinghong was. She was intelligent, decisive, and had unwavering resolve, possessing almost no flaws.
She was afraid of getting entangled with Liu Jinghong again.
And then becoming the Xu Yi from her dreams, the one she detested.
What should she do?
She wanted to leave this place.
She shouldn't have come.
"Xu Yi? Xu Yi!" Lu Zaiye had walked up to her at some point. "Are you afraid? Why?"
"I..."
Xu Yi met Lu Zaiye's deep eyes, and her previously chaotic mind suddenly regained its reason.
She was now on the Kyushu Continent, two thousand years later.
She was no longer the Senior Disciple Sister of the Xuanji Sect; she was the Ancestral Master of the Xuanji Sect.
Liu Jinghong was no longer her junior disciple sister but the Ascended Patriarch Jinghong.
Everything had already changed.
And she should no longer confine herself to past memories.
Xu Yi's tense expression gradually relaxed, and she said with feigned ease, "I'm fine. I'm just too surprised. Didn't you recognize her? This statue depicts Fairy Jinghong. I've seen her portrait in the sect, and it's exactly the same."
"Is that so?" Lu Zaiye's voice was neither happy nor sad.
"Yes."
Xu Yi nodded affirmatively, looking up at the towering statue, murmuring in her heart, "Liu Jinghong, we owe each other nothing. I won't be afraid of you anymore."
Lu Zaiye looked at Xu Yi deeply. The doubts that had been dispelled resurfaced in his mind.