“Xiaoxiao, now that you’ve given me this key, do you regret it?”
Chu Feng asked Long Xiaoxiao.
“Of course I don’t regret it. I came here with my Little Benefactor, so I wanted to leave with my Little Benefactor too. The result doesn’t matter, the experience is what counts.”
“As long as I can be with my Little Benefactor, Xiaoxiao is already perfectly content.”
“Leaving together like this actually suits me just fine.”
Long Xiaoxiao said with a beaming smile.
Her smile was so genuine, without the slightest trace of pretence or affectation.
“That suits me perfectly as well.”
Chu Feng smiled too.
“Bloody hell.”
At the sight of this, Yu Hong and the others nearly spat blood in rage.
They had mocked him precisely because they wanted Chu Feng to feel miserable, to feel guilty, to suffer for the rest of his life.
Yet seeing Chu Feng grinning happily, they could detect not a hint of sorrow or remorse. On the contrary, he looked utterly pleased with himself.
If Chu Feng wasn’t upset, then the ones who were upset were them.
Worst of all, not only were Chu Feng and Long Xiaoxiao completely unbothered, the two of them were actually flirting right in front of everyone.
What the hell was this?
Wasn’t this just a scoundrel meeting a fool?
In their eyes, the scoundrel was Chu Feng, and the fool was Long Xiaoxiao.
Yet this sort of thing was entirely consensual.
Apart from feeling frustrated, furious, envious, and jealous, there was nothing they could do.
Hum—
At that moment, two formation gates appeared out of thin air.
“Those who passed the trial, proceed to the training.”
“Those who failed the trial, receive punishment.”
“After the punishment, you may leave.”
The elder pointed at the two formation gates and spoke.
“Punishment? There’s punishment?”
“Senior, isn’t this going too far?”
“Yes, I heard that previously, the juniors from the Nine Souls Heavenly River who came to the Wish God Palace for training only needed a Wish God Pearl to participate.”
“Yet we had to undergo a trial, and only those who passed could train.”
“That was already unfair, but now those who failed actually have to be punished?”
“We paid an enormous price to obtain the Wish God Pearls. We came here for training, not to suffer.”
Yu Hong finally could not hold back and voiced the dissatisfaction in his heart.
At the same time, Bao Yue and Kui Wu Di also started complaining.
“You came here of your own free will. Whatever price you paid has nothing to do with my Wish God Palace.”
“Since you are here, you follow the arrangements of my Wish God Palace.”
“Now, receive your punishment.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, the two formation gates released suction forces.
The suction from one gate locked onto Yu Yin, Fu Feiyue, and Yin Daifen.
The suction from the other gate locked onto Chu Feng, Long Xiaoxiao, Yu Hong, Bao Yue, and Kui Wu Di, five people in total.
After Chu Feng and the others entered the gate, they seemed to return to the same desert they had arrived in earlier.
Above the desert, the sky was obscured. They could only see endless gusts of wind carrying sand sweeping past relentlessly.
Desolate, dry, hopeless.
“This is outrageous. They are clearly targeting us from the Sacred Light Heavenly River.”
“That so-called Granny Wish for the Wish God is nothing but a snob who looks down on people.”
Once inside, Yu Hong began cursing loudly in fury.
Compared to the grievances he had voiced earlier, only now was he truly unleashing the emotions pent up in his heart.
“Stop cursing, stop it, look over there!”
Suddenly Bao Yue stopped Yu Hong and pointed into the distance while shouting.
Yu Hong looked in that direction, and the anger on his face was instantly replaced by terror.
In the distance, a massive black cloud was hurtling towards them at terrifying speed.
Within the black cloud, ferocious lightning flashed with deafening roars.
It was power that could kill.
“Is this the punishment? This is straight-up murder. They want to kill us!”
Yu Hong’s voice trembled.
Bao Yue and Kui Wu Di turned deathly pale from fright.
Even Long Xiaoxiao’s little face filled with fear, her body shaking uncontrollably.
But at that moment, a strong yet gentle hand rested on Long Xiaoxiao’s shoulder.
It was Chu Feng.
“Don’t be afraid. For them this is punishment, but for us it is a trial.”
Chu Feng said.
“A trial?”
Long Xiaoxiao’s eyes widened in surprise.
Rumble—
At that instant, the terrifying thundercloud was already upon them. In the blink of an eye, the entire area was covered by the oppressive black cloud, as if the apocalypse had arrived.
Rumble—
Argh—
Most terrifying of all, thick bolts of lightning continuously struck down, hitting Yu Hong, Bao Yue, and Kui Wu Di directly.
The moment the lightning struck, the three of them collapsed to the ground, writhing in agony.
By chance, Yu Hong’s gaze swept towards Chu Feng and Long Xiaoxiao, and he immediately roared.
“Why? Why are you only punishing us and not them?”
Yu Hong pointed at Chu Feng and Long Xiaoxiao as he bellowed.
His roar was so loud that it drowned out the piercing thunder. Bao Yue and Kui Wu Di heard it clearly.
The two hurriedly looked towards Chu Feng and Long Xiaoxiao, and only then did they realise.
Although Chu Feng and Long Xiaoxiao also stood beneath the thundercloud, countless bolts of lightning passed right through them without a single one striking them.
“This… why is this happening?”
Bao Yue and Kui Wu Di were equally dumbfounded.
In fact, even Long Xiaoxiao was just as astonished.
“Little Benefactor, what is going on?”
“Why are we not being punished?”
Long Xiaoxiao asked.
“Those who fail the trial receive punishment.”
“But what we are receiving is the training.”
Chu Feng replied.
“The training?”
The surprise on Long Xiaoxiao’s face grew even stronger.
Her big eyes stared fixedly at Chu Feng, waiting for him to explain.
“Silly girl, don’t you understand yet?”
“That trial wasn’t so simple. They all failed, every single one of them, including Yu Yin, Fu Feiyue, and Yin Daifen. They failed too.”
“Those three are no different from Yu Hong’s group; they are all failures.”
“Only two people truly passed that trial.”
“That’s you and me.”
Chu Feng told Long Xiaoxiao.
As soon as he said this, not only was Long Xiaoxiao stunned, even Yu Hong and the others who were suffering agony pricked up their ears while staring at Chu Feng.
They all wanted to know exactly what had happened.
“You certainly didn’t manage to comprehend the full content of the stone tablet.”
Chu Feng said.
“Uh… indeed, I didn’t comprehend all of it.”
Long Xiaoxiao nodded, admitting it.
“But I did.”
“The real key to passing the trial wasn’t to be the first to overcome your inner demons and obtain the sacred key. It was the word ‘relinquish’.”
“Obtaining the key, then giving it away, letting someone else have the opportunity, only by doing that could one pass.”
“Actually, if all of you had carefully comprehended it and spent a bit more time, you would definitely have understood the later parts as well.”
“It’s just that once you discovered only one person could pass, you lost the will to continue comprehending and only wanted to hurry and challenge your inner demons to seize the chance as quickly as possible.”
Chu Feng explained.
“That really was how it was.”
Long Xiaoxiao nodded repeatedly, then looked at Chu Feng with incredulous eyes.
“So everything my Little Benefactor said was true. Only the two of us passed the trial?”
Long Xiaoxiao asked.
“Silly girl, the lightning isn’t harming us at all. Isn’t that the best proof?”
Chu Feng said.
“Ah!!!!”
Long Xiaoxiao let out an excited shriek. She was simply overjoyed and thrilled.
She had thought she had lost her qualification, yet unexpectedly she had passed.
In her excitement, she threw herself into Chu Feng’s arms and hugged him tightly.
“Little Benefactor, so you were helping me all along. Without you, I would have failed too. You are far too good to me.”
Long Xiaoxiao pressed her little face firmly against Chu Feng’s cheek, rubbing it back and forth nonstop.
She looked exactly as if she were taking advantage of him.
Yet Long Xiaoxiao was as beautiful as a celestial maiden, while Chu Feng currently looked uglier than a toad.
If anyone hadn’t seen it with their own eyes, no one would believe that such a lovely beauty would throw herself into the arms of someone so hideous.
And so blatantly take advantage of him at that.
