Meeting the Parents
A single night of rest was better than nothing.
The next morning at the hour of Chen, the disciples standing on the teleportation platform were at least not as listless as they had been yesterday after escaping the Wujian Temple.
However, even though they were mentally prepared, when the Voice of Heaven sounded on time, it still made everyone jump:
"The trial grounds, the Altar, is now open. The Altar is not an illusion; it is an actual forbidden area within our alliance. Here, opportunities and lethal dangers coexist. A moment of carelessness could result in instant death. It is far beyond what the previous two rounds of trials could compare to. Whether to enter or not is up to each disciple to decide."
As the voice spoke, a white light enveloped them. When everyone opened their eyes again, they were already standing in front of a massive, heavy stone door.
The Voice of Heaven continued: "Those who enter this door are responsible for their own life and death. Whatever is obtained within the door, whether it be cultivation methods, secret treasures, enlightenment, or opportunities, will be a personal reward. Those who forfeit may stop here without fault, and if they wish, they may still remain in the alliance to cultivate..."
Yingshi perked up her ears, processed the words for two seconds, and suddenly widened her eyes.
The final trial of the Tiangang Martial Gathering was actually set at the Altar!
Wasn't the Altar the post-tournament reward in the original book? Now it was actually appearing as part of the trial... Then wouldn't going inside be a huge bargain?
She had read the novel. The eight gates within the Altar consisted of three good ones, three bad ones, and two neutral ones. The good gates held various opportunities, the bad gates held deadly perils, and the neutral gates had nothing happening but would trap a person inside, making it difficult to escape easily.
The original male lead had entered all eight gates. First, he absorbed the sword intent left by his biological father in the Gate of Opening. Then, in the Gate of Resting, he met the remnant soul of his biological mother and comprehended six entire walls of secret incantations. In the Gate of Life, he also harvested a divine egg produced by the Holy Spirit Mountain—the male lead's subsequent journey to the Holy Spirit Mountain, where he met Qiaoyuan, was specifically to hatch that egg.
After taking all the opportunities from the good gates, the male lead also went to the Gate of Harm to save the original third-place winner, Duan Qinghe, and sent him out of the arena.
He then went to the Gate of Shock to rescue the original second-place winner, Bai Fangsui, only to end up trapped together with her in the Gate of Hiding.
Right at that moment, the male lead's demon core flare-up period arrived, and Bai Fangsui also coincidentally experienced the flare-up of her Millennium Cold Jade. Readers who had read countless novels knew exactly what would happen next. Two people with extreme temperatures, one cold and one hot, trapped in an enclosed space from which they couldn't easily escape—wasn't it only natural to have a little romantic trope where they huddled together for warmth and their feelings escalated?
However, as everyone knew, Jing Fengliu had his own pursuits in writing. He strove to raise readers' expectations only to shatter them.
Therefore, he actually wrote that the male lead, in order to avoid sharing a room with Bai Fangsui, forcefully broke through the Gate of Hiding using sheer martial power. He locked Bai Fangsui into the Gate of Scenery, which was also a neutral gate, while he simply hid himself in the Gate of Death... That was the most perilous gate among the Altar's eight gates, with a ten-to-one chance of certain death!
To enter even that, it was almost to the extent of leaving one's innocence in the mortal realm. As a result, this segment was criticized by many readers as brainless, forced, out of character, and a pure failure.
Unsurprisingly, the male lead encountered an earth-shattering death tribulation in the Gate of Death. On the verge of death, he fell into the realm of the Marrow Cleansing Spring beneath the Altar. In the end, a secondary breakthrough of his seal caused the Altar to be reduced to ruins... The above was the complete plot up to the end of the Tiangang Martial Gathering arc.
As for Yingshi, she practically knew the contents of all eight gates of the Altar!
This was simply the most perfect display of the benefits of knowing the plot!
The book had described the characteristics of the good gates. As long as she was careful, she could definitely identify them. Wasn't this equivalent to being spoon-fed?
As long as she and Shuangjian weren't too greedy, entered one good gate, stopped while they were ahead, and left the Altar together before Shuangjian's second demon core flare-up, it would be a guaranteed, steady victory!
Did she want the sword intent or to comprehend the secret incantations? For the incantations, she would have to memorize tens of thousands of words. She didn't possess the male lead's brain hardware, so she would likely bite off more than she could chew. As for the sword intent, it had to be left for Shuangjian, as it was the key to saving his life in the plot.
Because the Nether Demon Lord's intent to kill his son had not died, by the original male lead's next birthday—which was just over a month away—he would appear again to go crazy.
In the book, the male lead fortunately had the sword intent from the same root protecting his body, which blocked the Demon Lord's fatal strike, causing that old widower to regain his senses and leave with a flick of his sleeves.
After calculating everything, Yingshi still felt that the Gate of Life suited her best. Adopting a cute mount or a spirit pet would be great!
The egg the original male lead obtained in the Gate of Life eventually hatched into an incredibly domineering and cool divine eagle. However, it was said that there was more than one egg in the Gate of Life. She might also pick up other creatures from the Holy Spirit Mountain, as long as they were willing to go with her.
The more Yingshi thought about it, the more her heart surged with excitement. She immediately wanted to find Shuangjian to step into the stone door together.
Her enthusiasm formed a stark contrast with the hesitation of the others, causing quite a few disciples to cast sidelong glances at her.
A disciple wearing the uniform of the Dao One Immortal Alliance was actually the first among the eight to decide to stop here.
His choice undoubtedly put even more psychological pressure on the remaining disciples present. A disciple of the host sect definitely knew how dangerous the Altar was better than outsiders. If even he decided to retreat, it showed that the Voice of Heaven wasn't deliberately exaggerating the atmosphere. Once inside this Altar, there was truly no guarantee of coming out alive.
Immediately, two more disciples stepped out: one from the Guiyuan Sword Sect and one who didn't belong to the three major sects.
Therefore, in the end, only five people entered the Altar: one from each of the three major sects, and two from the Yunshui Sect.
Xu Mingcheng had always hoped she wouldn't bring shame to the sect. Now, she had overfulfilled her task and was entirely bringing glory to the sect. He practically owed her a couple of kowtows.
With a radiant smile on her face, Yingshi very calmly stepped through the stone door.
...
Her smile froze.
Yingshi looked down at the wriggling bugs on the ground, and goosebumps quickly spread all over her body.
"Ah!!"
She let out a delayed scream, took a huge leap to cling onto the wall, and shook her legs and feet, trying to flick off any bug corpses that might be stuck to the soles of her shoes.
She had thought too simply. The interior of the Altar was like a super-massive labyrinth. It wasn't just eight doors lined up in a row like hotel rooms for her to choose from. First, she had to find the doors and grope for directions within the intricate and complex secret passages!
The location she was teleported to after entering the Altar was simply too terrible. Because it was so dark and damp, it had long become a paradise for bugs. The dense mass of bug bodies even raised the floor level by a layer. For Yingshi, standing here was no different from suffering the ultimate torture.
Her eyes shut tight, she instinctively launched an attack in her panic. With a flip of her wrists, she shot out several streams of spiritual energy. The water light rushed toward the ground like a high-pressure water gun, quickly crushing a layer of bugs into powder.
But even after doing this, she still didn't dare step on the ground. She had no choice but to scale the walls and jump around like Spider-Man, holding her breath to block out the peculiar smell emitted by the massive number of dead bugs in the air.
Yingshi also understood the logic of conserving her spiritual energy, but anyone who was afraid of bugs would have no other choice in this situation!
The secret passage was incredibly long, dark, and hollow inside, with countless forks in the road. Not running into anyone was one thing, but it seemed like she could never reach the end no matter how far she walked.
Yingshi groped around for quite a long time until she walked onto a main road completely devoid of bugs, and finally saw a door.
However, around that door lay two or three withered skeletons. One skeleton's finger was arranged in a pointing posture, pointing straight in the direction of the door.
This was... the Door of Shock that Bai Fangsui had entered in the book!
In the original book, Bai Fangsui entered this broken door precisely because she saw the withered skeleton leading the way, and nearly lost her life. Fortunately, the male lead arrived in time to save her.
After Yingshi recognized it, she walked in the opposite direction without stopping.
Knowing there are tigers in the mountains, who would still go towards Tiger Mountain?
As a result, as soon as she turned around, there was another identical door in front of her, with withered skeletons leading the way as well, except the bone's finger was pointing in another direction.
"..."
Yingshi felt a chill on her back. She hurriedly retreated to the middle of the fork and chose another road. Then, at the end of the road, the plum blossoms bloomed for a third time, and another door appeared. This time, the withered skeleton outside the door simply moved, creaking as it propped up its body, as if it was going to chase after her!
Yingshi's first reaction was to run, but the skeleton was so fast. Hearing the sound getting closer and closer, she hurriedly turned back and used the Water Bath Heavenly Splendor Technique, trying to force it back. However, the spiritual power passed directly through the gaps in the skeleton and dissipated, not touching its physical body at all... Was this withered skeleton an illusion?
Could the shock in the Door of Shock be the shock in a thriller movie?
She hadn't even entered the door yet!
Before she had time to react, the withered skeleton crashed towards her. Yingshi did a backflip to the ceiling like an action movie actor, touched the wall, turned around, and stood up. The withered skeleton ran past her from below and continued running forward until it crashed into the door panel of the door opposite, making an opening in the door, and then fell down, silently falling apart—wait, that was the intersection of a fork in the road before, there was no door there!
However, there was more than one extra door in this bizarre space, so there was no need to be too surprised.
But the door with the opening seemed a bit different. Apart from the skeleton that had just fallen apart right under Yingshi's nose, there were no other withered skeletons lying around its periphery. Instead, a patch of small yellow and white flowers grew there.
A door with flowers growing... Is it the Door of Rest?
Yingshi tried hard to mobilize her memory, and after reaching the conclusion, she couldn't help but feel surprised. Is this the trigger for opening the Door of Rest?
It felt entirely like it had crashed into her face.
She tentatively moved her footsteps towards that side little by little. She didn't intend to go in, she just wanted to peek at the scene inside through the gap in the door that had been knocked open.
Seeing that the fifteenth was approaching again, and Shuangjian was about to experience the backlash of the demon core, time didn't allow them to delay. Yingshi had already planned that her goal was the Door of Life.
But plans couldn't keep up with changes. Just as she walked to the door and quietly peeked inside, a flower branch unexpectedly stretched out from the door, wrapped around her arm, and pulled her in!
"Eh, eh?!"
Yingshi's figure flashed, and she was directly pulled into the Door of Rest. Seeing the stone door close again in front of her, she turned around in panic, and at a glance, she saw the... person sitting on the stone chair?
No, it should be called a soul body.
The soul body was enveloped in a hazy and holy faint light, as if draped in moonlight. It was very beautiful, but also very illusory.
"..."
Yingshi was a bit dumbfounded.
Judging by the standard of Maomao, an absolute beauty lover, the soul body in front of her possessed a level of beauty that would make it instantly transform into a human and shout "Mom" upon seeing it.
And this was the male lead's mother—the former goddess, Changyi, who had already fallen, with only a wisp of remnant soul remaining here.
If we talk about the absolute similarity in appearance between her and Shuangjian, it wasn't actually that high.
After all, if Shuangjian had exactly the same face as his mother, he probably would have been taken away right after entering the Dao One Immortal Alliance.
But their facial features still had similarities, such as the nose and mouth... This made Yingshi gaze at this unfamiliar remnant soul of the goddess, unexpectedly giving rise to a sense of unconscious intimacy due to this familiarity.
But this was too different from what was written in the book. It was clear that Changyi's remnant soul needed to be summoned in the Door of Rest to appear!
There was a soul lamp belonging to her here. When the candle in the soul lamp burned out, this wisp of her remnant soul would dissipate.
And now, the Door of Rest was wide open, and Changyi's remnant soul personally led her into the door without being summoned.
Yingshi stood foolishly in place, feeling somewhat at a loss. Her gaze shifted from Goddess Changyi's face to the candlestick in front of the stone table—the snow-white candle was already just a short stub, with candle tears piled up at the bottom. The candle flame burned weakly but steadily, reflecting Changyi's translucent fingertips.
Yingshi's heart suddenly sank.
At that moment, she suddenly felt remorse for her previous rash decision to peek.
If only the person who entered the Door of Rest was Shuangjian.
Actually... actually, Shuangjian was not the Shuangjian in the book either, and could no longer be completely regarded as Changyi's child. But for some reason, her subconscious felt a faint sadness that the two could not meet.
There was a plot in the book where Changyi's remnant soul gently stroked Shuangjian's hair, but now, that would not happen... Just as Yingshi was thinking this, she felt her face being touched extremely lightly.
"...!"
She was stunned for a moment, meeting Changyi's close eyes.
It seemed... although the eye shape was different, the calm and gentle feeling in the eyes was also similar to Shuangjian.
Yingshi instinctively felt that she should say something, so she nervously introduced herself: "Hello, I, I am Xu Yingshi..."
Changyi looked at her silently, withdrew her hand, and showed her a faint smile.
It was really so familiar...
Shuangjian also looked like this when he smiled.
Shallow, soft, revealing a tranquil and elegant feeling.
Yingshi forgot to blink again.
The flower branch gently pushed her back, leading her to sit opposite Changyi at the stone table.
Only at this moment did she remember to look around the entire interior of the Door of Rest.
The six inner walls of this stone room were indeed carved with secret mental incantations, and thousands of books were piled on the ground at the edges.
If some disciples with lofty ambitions were allowed to come in, they would probably be like mice falling into a rice vat, starting to wander in the ocean of knowledge.
Yingshi originally had lofty ambitions too.
But sitting opposite Changyi, she couldn't care about any mental incantation that might make her stronger.
Smelling the faint fragrance drifting from the burning candle, she spoke like a ghost: "...He is doing very well now."
He is working hard to become stronger and is no longer being beaten.
Everything is getting on the right track, and he is no longer alone.
There may be crises in the future, but there are ways to solve them. That must be a very wonderful Happy Ending...
After the words were spoken, even she herself was shocked.
Who did the "he" in her words refer to?
Did she confuse Shuangjian with the original male lead?
But how could she tell a mother that her son had already been replaced by a soul from another world?
Changyi's remnant soul seemed unable to speak.
Hearing her voice, she merely tilted her head. Her smile remained unchanged, but her eyes curved a little more.
A flowering branch lightly dragged over two items, which she then placed on the stone table: a jar of wine and a book.
Watching Changyi personally pour wine for her, Yingshi felt restless and uneasy.
She clenched her hands resting on her lap, her gaze uncontrollably drifting back to the burning candle. She could not help but add, "Later on... later on, this world will be very good too. People will live stable lives..."
If Changyi's state of mind was truly as analyzed in that long review, would saying this bring her some trivial comfort?
The hand holding the cup paused imperceptibly.
She raised her eyes. This time, she was not smiling. With a faint, almost imperceptible sigh, she offered the wine, gesturing for Yingshi to drink with her.
Yingshi had only ever drunk Kvass, which was touted as a fermented beverage, and small cups of sweet and sour fruit-flavored rice wine at Korean restaurants.
Right now, staring at the clear liquor in the cup, she did not know why, but she just wanted to cooperate with Changyi's every move...
Normally, one should never consume a drink offered in such a bizarre situation, but she closed her eyes, steeled her heart, picked up the cup, and downed it in one gulp.
...Huh? It was actually quite good.
Crisp and refreshing with a lingering sweet aftertaste. Yingshi licked her lips and set the cup down.
There was wine in front of Changyi as well, but she merely reached out a slender, jade-like hand to lightly fan the rim of the cup. Her eyes were half-closed as if gently sniffing the aroma of the wine. Then, with one hand, she turned a page of the book, folded it over, and without reading it, placed it face-down on the table.
Watching her gentle movements, Yingshi wanted to stare at the candle again. Perhaps Changyi noticed her anxiety, for a hint of mischief flashed in her eyes, and she suddenly had the flowering branch hide the candle beneath the table.
"I..." Yingshi stood up abruptly, then felt a bit embarrassed by her own suddenness. However, there was an urgent impulse in her heart, as if she simply had to do something. "Let me draw his portrait for you!"
There were already paper and brushes on the table, and even the ink was freshly wet. She looked up at Changyi's face, and seeing no signs of objection, quickly picked up the brush to sketch a portrait on the paper.
Not chibi, not cartoonish. This time, she drew as freehand and expressive as possible, doing her best to create a figure that people of this time and space could recognize.
She really wanted to leave something behind. Even if it was not for Changyi, it was for Shuangjian...
She drew the Shuangjian she was most familiar with.
She drew his slender figure standing tall like a crane, his slightly lowered eyelashes, his calm gaze, and his reserved yet gentle expression.
She wanted to draw more. She wanted to draw the pale gold plated on him by the sunlight, his steps walking against the blizzard, his side profile surrounded by osmanthus branches, and his blurred silhouette cast by the candlelight when he waited for her with a lantern... But she could not draw it.
The tools were so crude, her drawing skills so limited, and time so pressing... Yingshi felt a heaviness in her chest. Why was she the one invited into the Xiu Gate?
She showed the drawing, which she could no longer refine, to Changyi. Her palms were so sweaty she could barely hold the brush, and she subconsciously added, "He looks even better than what I have drawn."
Changyi gazed at the drawing paper for a long time, nodded, and the gentle curve at the corners of her lips deepened.
She took the brush from Yingshi's hand, leaned over, and added an extremely light and fine stroke to the painting—following the line of the lips Yingshi had sketched, she gently swept it upward.
It was a smile.
A smile that belonged to Shuangjian.
Yingshi stared blankly at the newly touched-up drawing, her heart aching slightly.
She hurriedly lowered her head and blinked hard, trying to force back the inexplicable moisture gathering at the edges of her eyes.
However, when she raised her head again, the space in front of her was completely empty.
"..."
Yingshi stood in a daze for a few seconds before silently crouching down. Beneath the stone table, the hidden candle had already burned out.
Spring sun.
The last wisp of thin smoke was curling up and dissipating into the void.
Changyi was gone.
