Above the sky platform, the viewing celestial cultivators were all in an uproar."This trial is too ridiculous!"
"They have to pick between life and death? Is this even a trial at all?"
"This is purely based on luck!"
"This trial is biased to the third tier celestial clans!"
"What do you mean it is biased to the third tier celestial clans? It seems that the second tier celestial clans are afraid of losing."
"What did you say?"
"Hehe. For the very first time, I am seeing more cultivators from the third tier celestial clans than from the second tier celestial clan."
"The Divine Nine Sect has all been wiped out and the Spirit Sword Manor is left with one Qian Jingjing…"
"The Heavy Moon Sect and the Alluring Blossoms Palace are still going strong with three competing candidates each…"
"The Heavens Ridge Villa still has three while the Clear Sky Pavilion has four…"
"I can"t believe that first realm good-for-nothing Lu Qingyun manages to complete the first trial…"
"He is only lucky, that is all."
"There are two portals. One green and one blue. Which one will you choose?"
"Green is for healing and may represent life…"
"Green can also be poison…"
"I say it is the blue. The Heavenly Fragrance Villa has blue in their clan emblem. So the blue portal may be the right one…"
The Three-Destinies Old Man was muttering, "What an interesting trial."
"What is so interesting about it? It is just a simple life and death trial." Xuan Danfeng laughed softly.
"No." The Three-Destinies Old Man said solemnly. "It is more than that. This trial also tests the cultivator"s courage."
"Oh?"
"In a battle against a superior opponent, it will take a lot of courage and under the constant threat of death to overcome the inner heart demon. This trial is a test of their inner hearts." The Three-Destinies Old Man explained as he reached out for his wine and he was suddenly grabbing air.
"Where is my wine?" He gave Xuan Danfeng a cold look.
"Didn"t you say that you will share with me?" Xuan Danfeng gave him a pitiful look.
"Alas…I forget." The Three-Destinies Old Man heaved a deep sigh.
–
–
–
Inside the trial, there were confusions among the cultivators.
"Which portals do we pick?"
"Does anyone has any idea?"
"This is a most difficult choice…"
"Too ridiculous…"
"We can only leave our fates to the heavens…"
"….. ... ..."
Lu Qingyun quietly said to Leng Qiuyue, "Junior Sister Qiuyue, we will need to choose two different portals. This will allow us the best chance to survive the second trial."
While Leng Qiuyue was nodding, Qian Jingjing asked. "What about me?"
Lu Qingyun returned a weak smile, "Up to you."
Qian Jingjing chuckled, "Then I shall follow you because I think you are a lucky fellow."
"Don"t blame me if you are disqualified." Lu Qingyun warned her weakly.
"Hehe, I am not that petty." Qian Jingjing smiled. "So which portal will you choose?"
Lu Qingyun whispered as he gave a discreet look in the direction of Yue Lingxi, "Did you see veil maiden earlier? We are going to wait for her to step into the portal first."
"You want to follow her?" Qian Jingjing asked curiously.
"No. Where she goes, I will take the other portal." Lu Qingyun said.
"Oh?" Qian Jingjing and Leng Qiuyue said at the same time with a surprise look.
Lu Qingyun was smiling as he looked in the direction of Yue Lingxi. Either way, he would not be seeing Yue Lingxi.
All of a sudden Yue Lingxi had turned around to look at him, giving him a startled and her eyes seemed to be mocking him.
Although the look was brief, Lu Qingyun could feel that his soul was s.n.a.t.c.hed away by her eyes. He knew that she was a desolate cultivator but he could not understand how she could have suppressed her cultivation level to the fourth realm and below in order to enter the trial.
Yue Lingxi and her group had suddenly all walked toward the green portal and they had all walked into it with no hesitation at all.
Leng Qiuyue was startled as she saw their decision, "They did not split their team into two?"
Even Qian Jingjing was surprised, "Huh? Isn"t it too risky? Or they"ve already known which portal to take?"
Lu Qingyun quickly scanned around his surroundings to look for hints but there were nothing except for the drifting clouds and the edges of the mountain were quickly disintegrating.
He thought with suspicion, "This Yue Lingxi may have already seen the through the illusions of the trial. If we follow her, it may be a lot safer but there is also a risk that we may all lose our lives in this trial."
So he said, "Qiuyue, you take the green portal. I will take the blue portal."
Leng Qiuyue nodded quietly, "Senior brother, please take care."
Qian Jingjing giggled to Lu Qingyun, "Then I shall follow you."
Lu Qingyun replied weakly, "Up to you. But I may well be choosing the death portal."
"And I shall not blame you if that is the case, right? I"ve promised you. Let"s hurry before the entire mountain collapse!" Qian Jingjing laughed.
She was right. By now five minutes had pa.s.sed and half of the mountains had already collapsed.
With a nod, Lu Qingyun had walked toward the blue portal while Leng Qiuyue had walked toward the green portal.
Leng Qiuyue took a last look at Lu Qingyun as she prayed in her heart, "Senior brother, let"s hope that your choice is the life portal. I don"t mind sacrificing for your sake."
As Lu Qingyun, Leng Qiuyue and Qian Jingjing made their choices, Nangong Yu was secretly observing Lu Qingyun. He had not made his move yet because this was a most difficult choice for him to make. As a matter of fact, he was not the only one as half of the cultivators were still facing their inner demons and had not decided yet due to fear.
The reason why he was quietly observing Lu Qingyun was because he had a sudden idea. Since Lu Qingyun had always been quite lucky, why not follow the choice that he had made? Maybe that would be the life portal.
When he saw that Lu Qingyun was making his way to the blue portal, he began to follow quietly behind him and he made sure that he was not seen by Lu Qingyun or Leng Qiuyue. Luckily there were still thousands of cultivators that had not made their choices yet.
Lu Qingyun took in a deep breath as he stood at the blue portal. "Is this the life portal or the death portal?"
All of a sudden Qian Jingjing had pushed him into the blue portal as she grabbed him by his arm, "Let"s go in!…"
"Wait…I have not said my last prayers yet…" Lu Qingyun stammered panicky. But it was already too late as the two of them entered into the blue portal together.
"You can thank the heavens later if this is the life portal." Qian Jingjing laughed softly.
As soon he entered into the blue portal, the blue had turned quickly into darkness and he was now floating in a vast emptiness of the darkness.
Needless to say, Lu Qingyun knew instantly that the blue portal was actually the portal of death!
He began to smile weakly, "And so my trial ends here…"
On the other side of the green portal, Leng Qiuyue had stepped into another mountain platform where the other cultivators who had stepped earlier into the green portal were.
She had recognized Yue Lingxi, Qiuxiang Huan, Qiuxiang Hanyu and Shangguan Furong among them. As she quietly walked to a corner, she was trembling. "So senior brother has taken the wrong portal…" She had totally lost her motivation for the trial and was depressed that Lu Qingyun had not made it.
Qiuxiang Huan had turned to say to Yue Lingxi, "It seems that Lu Qingyun has taken the wrong portal and we won"t be seeing him till the end of the trial."
Yue Lingxi was groaning softly, "Why didn"t he follow us? I thought that he is a smart fellow."
Qiuxiang Hanyu smiled, "Maybe that hint earlier isn"t too obvious to big brother?"
"But…" Qiuxiang Hanyu muttered, "How did Elder Yue knows that this will be the life portal?"
Yue Lingxi smiled as she said in a low voice, "I have secretly placed my profound signatures on the earlier groups that had entered the portals. My profound signatures were extinguished as soon as it touched the blue portal. Therefore I know that it is the death portal.
Qiuxiang Hanyu, Qiuxiang Huan and Shangguan Furong were all startled. Although it sounded simple enough but it was nearly impossible to have such sensitivity with the profound aura. The cultivator had to be at least a seventh realm expert to even begin with. Moreover she had done so without anyone detecting what she was doing. None of them had even seen her releasing her profound aura earlier and she had done so in such a clean and discreet manner that they found it a little unbelievable.
The ten minutes had quickly pa.s.sed and by now everyone had made their choices.
As the green portal disappeared, a black portal had suddenly appeared in its place.
Shen Yufeng"s voice could be heard echoing, "Good. Two thousands of you have successfully made the right option. You have all pa.s.sed the second trial. However the second trial has not truly ended for some of the cultivators that have picked the death portal. So you shall all take a break first and wait for the second trial to be ended first."
Everyone was startled. The second trial had not fully ended? Did it mean that there were some hopes for those that had picked the blue portal?
Leng Qiuyue was suddenly lifted from her depression and her eyes were eagerly looking at the black portal. If Lu Qingyun were to survive the second trial then he would have to emerge from this black portal that had taken the place of the green portal.
She was not the only ones that were suddenly staring at the black portal and were hopeful.
–
–
–
Qin Keqin was startled, "My Yun"Er has picked the wrong portal? Where is he? How come I cannot see him or the others? The celestial array is only showing the location of the ones that have picked the green portal."
Shen Yufeng smiled, "They are in another s.p.a.ce. That"s why you cannot see them. It is almost impossible for the celestial array to show all two thousands of the cultivators that had picked the wrong portal. But they will be given a second chance."
Qin Keqin heaved a soft sigh of relief, "That is good…I"ve thought that it is really a death portal."
"It is." Shen Yufeng smiled wryly. "Usually less than one-tenth will survive the outcome of the second chance."
Qin Keqin: …