The blood-red boundary gate looked just like the gate of hell, majestic and overwhelmingly domineering.
Chu Feng shot out from within it, as though descending upon the world like an emperor.
Yet upon closer inspection, the impression was entirely different.
At this moment, Chu Feng carried no trace of unrivalled arrogance. He was covered in blood, his face deathly pale, as if he had just endured cruel torture.
After emerging from the gate, he even lost the strength to remain airborne.
He fell straight from the sky and crashed heavily onto the ground.
Once he landed, he lay there completely motionless.
If not for the faint breath he still drew, anyone would have assumed he was dead.
Buzz.
The instant Chu Feng hit the ground, blood-red radiance burst from his body.
That radiance was miraculous. Like invisible hands, it caressed his wounds, which began to heal, and his aura gradually recovered.
Soon, Chu Feng stood up, brimming with energy and vigour, a completely different person from moments before.
“Senior, you are here too?”
When Chu Feng rose and saw the disciple of the Wish God Granny, he sounded rather surprised.
“Oh, isn’t this the little brat who loves playing the hero?”
“You really do have nine lives. You actually managed to survive.”
The tone of the disciple was thick with sarcasm.
She did not admire Chu Feng’s act of saving everyone. On the contrary, she found it repulsive.
In her view, a martial cultivator should always put themselves first. If possible, one could help those close to them, but the lives of irrelevant people meant nothing to her.
Because she held this belief, she considered those who made saving others their life’s mission utterly disgusting.
“This junior does have a tough life,” Chu Feng replied with a smile.
Even though her words dripped with mockery, he still greeted her warmly and continued to show her due respect.
“Hmph…”
The disciple merely gave a cold snort. She clearly did not appreciate his courtesy.
“How did you get here? Did you also choose the Hero Sword?”
“And what was that boundary gate about?”
Her words carried mockery, but also curiosity, because the gate Chu Feng had emerged from was completely different from the one she had used.
It was clearly the same gate he had entered when he accepted the challenge.
Why had that gate appeared here?
“Heh heh, great minds think alike, as they say.”
“Just like you, senior, I took a fancy to this Primordial Hero Sword, so I thought I would give the trial a try,” Chu Feng said.
“So you intend to compete with me?” the disciple asked.
“If this junior had known that you had already chosen this sword, I naturally would not have contested it with you.”
“Unfortunately, we only get one choice. Since I have already entered, there is no turning back.”
“I truly did not do it on purpose. Please forgive me, senior.”
As he spoke, Chu Feng cupped his fist and bowed, extremely polite.
“Hahaha…”
The disciple burst into shrill, mocking laughter.
“Look over there. Twenty-three scrolls, each containing a butterfly.”
“Enter a scroll and face its trial. Succeed, and you gain its power.”
“The more power you obtain, the greater your chance of earning the Hero Sword’s acknowledgement.”
“Let alone whether you even have the ability to challenge the scrolls, you have already missed your window.”
“Right now, I have ten butterflies around me. That means I have obtained tenfold power.”
“Even if you started challenging them now, and even if you could succeed, you have already lost at the starting line.”
As she spoke, her voice was filled not only with mockery, but also with pride.
Buzz.
At that very moment, the remaining thirteen scrolls all flashed with light at once.
Then, the thirteen butterflies within them flew out together and headed straight for Chu Feng, as though acknowledging him as their master, and began circling around him.
“This…”
Seeing this, the disciple stood frozen, eyes wide. The smug expression she had worn vanished, and she was momentarily speechless.
As for Chu Feng, he showed no surprise at all.
“You rotten brat, what did you do?”
Suddenly, the disciple glared at Chu Feng, fury blazing in her eyes.
“Senior, didn’t you say earlier that I was just playing the hero?”
“Now, you should understand why I chose to play the hero, shouldn’t you?”
Chu Feng asked with a broad grin.
“What do you mean?”
“Are you saying you did it on purpose?”
“That saving those people was connected to obtaining the weapon here?”
The disciple’s brows knitted tightly. She vaguely sensed something was wrong.
“Exactly as you say, senior.”
“Actually, whether or not we saved those people was also a choice.”
“It was the same as the choice we made in the illusion.”
“It’s just that in the first round within the illusion, you chose correctly, senior.”
“But in this second round, you chose wrongly.”
“To be honest, I’m a little puzzled. Since you managed to choose correctly in the first round, senior, why did you choose wrongly in the second?”
“That shouldn’t have happened.”
Chu Feng asked.
“You!!!”
Fury surged within the disciple’s heart, along with a trace of shame.
Given her personality, she normally would have slaughtered everyone in the illusion without hesitation.
The only reason she had refrained was because her master knew something about the Ancient Burial Soldier Tomb and had warned her about what might happen.
Everything up to that point had matched her master’s warnings, so she had followed the instructions.
But when that mysterious woman later asked whether they were willing to save those people, her master had given no guidance.
So she had followed her own nature and refused.
She had never imagined that this time, her choice had been the mistake.
“You cunning little brat.”
“How did you see through the trick?”
The disciple demanded.
“The same way as in the illusion,” Chu Feng answered.
“I’m asking how you saw through it. Stop talking nonsense,” she snapped.
“Senior, don’t tell me you never noticed the flaw in the illusion?”
Chu Feng narrowed his eyes and asked with a cheeky smile.
His words instantly made her bristle.
She genuinely had not spotted any flaw. Her correct choice had been entirely due to her master’s prior warning.
“Answer what I ask you. Stop all this rubbish,” she growled, clearly annoyed.
“Fine, fine, fine. I’ll tell you.”
“It was in that senior’s eyes. The flaw was in her eyes.”
“If you looked deeply enough, you could read her true intentions from them.”
“Although she kept verbally telling us what the ‘correct’ choice was, those words were only meant to mislead us.”
“Her real intention was hidden in her eyes.”
“Take this Hero Sword for example. It is said that only a hero may wield it.”
“If someone is unwilling even to save others’ lives, how could they possibly be called a hero?”
Chu Feng explained.
“So that’s how it was?”
The disciple remained half-convinced. She wasn’t entirely sure whether Chu Feng was telling the truth.
But suddenly, something clicked. She glared at Chu Feng and bellowed in rage.
“Bullshit! You’re saying I’m not fit to wield the Hero Sword?”
