Chapter 40: Female Protagonist

"Could this be the secret of my Spirit Embryo?" Chu Huaixu fell into deep thought.

Han Shuangjiang saw that the illusion had broken, yet he was still frowning and pondering, so she didn’t disturb him.

To her, as long as he didn’t turn around to look at the puddle behind him—left there by her—he could do whatever he liked.

At that moment, she glanced curiously behind her.

Ten paths all led to this empty clearing paved with green stone slabs.

"Was it really a maze before the illusion?" she wondered.

"Everyone else is still trapped inside, and I was just this lucky to pick the right path at every single fork—ten times in a row?" She still found it hard to believe.

Beyond that, Han Shuangjiang had another doubt in her heart.

"Where’s the next stage?"

There was nothing here, and no path ahead.

Surely this secret realm wasn’t just a prank, with this place as the end and the departed senior having left behind nothing?

Just newly entering the Dao Gate, she didn’t yet know that such cases did exist—some shameless elders deliberately toyed with later generations.

Of course, those were rare exceptions.

Chu Huaixu still couldn’t figure out the mystery of the small black sword in his Sea of Consciousness, so he too began to look around, wondering what to do next.

There was a stone wall ahead. He walked over and searched carefully, casually patting around—and really did find a hidden mechanism.

A protruding part was pressed down hard by him, and a stone door opened.

Obviously, the real focus of this stage was the previous illusion; the mechanism wasn’t important and wasn’t well hidden.

After exchanging a glance, the two of them walked forward together.

The stone door closed again, as if it had never been opened.

On the way, Chu Huaixu muttered, “The illusion from earlier should still be usable, right? It didn’t get destroyed, right?”

“What’s wrong?” Han Shuangjiang asked, puzzled.

“When Liu Chengqi and the others get out of the maze, it can trap them again!” Chu Huaixu said as if it were obvious.

The Big Ice Block let out a soft “eh” sound. She hadn’t thought about that at all.

As they walked and talked, they soon reached the end of the stone corridor.

What appeared before them was an underground river.

It was about fifty meters wide.

At the far end of the underground river stood a stone pillar over a meter high.

On top of the stone pillar seemed to be something like a compass.

Further back, there was another stone door.

“What is that?” Han Shuangjiang also noticed the compass.

“That’s a 【Spirit Disk】.” Chu Huaixu was far more knowledgeable than her.

He explained, “It’s used to measure the grade of a Spirit Embryo.”

He hadn’t expected that right before the stone door, a Spirit Disk would be placed there.

Under normal circumstances, to identify someone’s Spirit Embryo grade, blood was sufficient.

Someone like Li Chunsong, a Seventh Realm expert with broad experience, could determine Han Shuangjiang’s Body of Profound Yin from a single drop of blood.

But ordinary cultivators didn’t have that Realm of cultivation. Someone like Liu Tianfeng—even if you gave him a drop of Han Shuangjiang’s blood—at best, he’d wrongly judge it as a Top-grade Spirit Embryo!

In reality, Spirit Embryos were divided into ten levels. The lowest three were Lower Grade, the middle three were Middle Grade, and the top three were Top Grade. Beyond that was the once-in-a-century Super Grade!

Unless one had reached at least the Fifth Realm, even if a person with a Top-grade Spirit Embryo stood right before them, they couldn’t tell which of the top three levels it was—let alone a Super Grade Spirit Embryo.

The 【Spirit Disk】 could perform that precise distinction.

However, this item was expensive and usually only medium or large sects could afford it.

A third-rate sect like the Joyous Sect didn’t have any powerful cultivators and still relied on the most primitive method—blood-testing the embryo.

A rare Body of Profound Yin like Han Shuangjiang’s was a Pearl Covered in Dust no matter where she was.

Seeing the Spirit Disk, a smile appeared on Chu Huaixu’s face.

“This thing’s really expensive. We can sell it to the sect in exchange for contribution points,” Chu Huaixu said.

The moment he heard the words “very expensive,” the broke girl next to him began staring at it intently.

Chu Huaixu turned to look at her and said, “My choice was right after all. I should’ve brought you along. You’re my lucky star.”

Han Shuangjiang felt a bit embarrassed hearing him say that again, but still kept a straight face and asked, “Why do you say that?”

He pointed ahead and said, “Obviously, this senior had a bias against Spirit Embryos.”

“Look, placing a 【Spirit Disk】 here, and right behind it is a stone door.”

“I bet if the measured grade isn’t high enough, that stone door won’t even open!”

Chu Huaixu suddenly thought of an ancient online novel he had read on Earth, where the first chapter was titled 《The Fallen Genius》.

But at least Xiao Yan had “Dou Qi, Level Three!”

If he placed his hand on the Spirit Disk, it would probably read the lowest of the low—a pitiful Grade 1 Spirit Embryo.

Of course, with this Big Ice Block’s talent, opening the stone door was no big deal.

At that thought, Chu Huaixu smiled and said to Han Shuangjiang, “That’s why you’re my key.”

“What do you mean your key or my key?” Han Shuangjiang’s cheeks flushed faintly.

First lucky star, then key—what nonsense!

Still, she mostly agreed with his reasoning in her heart. Otherwise, why place a Spirit Disk here?

She looked toward the underground river ahead and asked, “So we just have to cross the river?”

“It definitely won’t be that simple.” Chu Huaixu stared at the river.

He walked toward the underground river, crouched down, and examined it carefully.

The water was clear, but the current was slow.

There were four holes in the stone wall beneath the river, and they looked like part of a mechanism.

At both ends, two large stone walls made of massive stones were suspended in midair, seemingly ready to fall and block the water flow.

“This secret realm can only be entered by mortals or those in the Qi-Opening Stage.”

“For us, the only way across is to swim,” Chu Huaixu said.

If their cultivation were higher, they could just leap across, but they couldn’t do that.

“Besides, since this is part of the test, I suspect that using other means to cross the river would trigger some kind of restriction.” He analyzed based on his experience.

Chu Huaixu looked around, picked up a small stone, and threw it forcefully across the river.

Sure enough, the stone hit a transparent barrier, and a semi-transparent ripple spread through the air. It couldn’t pass through.

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The stone simply fell into the river, but no strange reaction occurred.

He continued testing by throwing several more stones into the river, even picking a particularly large one.

Still no reaction.

“Looks like there’s an array that only activates when a person enters the water,” Chu Huaixu said.

He was good at thinking outside the box and began looking around. “I wonder if there are any rats or something. Maybe only living creatures trigger the array.”

Han Shuangjiang looked at him and strongly suspected that if Liu Chengqi and the others were here, this sly fox would kick one of them into the water to test it.

The Big Ice Block thought: “Since Liu Chengqi isn’t here… does that mean… it’s me?”

“Should I go in first to test it?” she suddenly said.

Chu Huaixu was stunned: “Huh? Don’t joke around!”

Han Shuangjiang’s pitch-black eyes stared straight at him as she said seriously, “I’m not joking.”

Seeing his hesitation, she pointed to the other side of the river.

“Didn’t you also say that I’m probably the only one who can open that stone door? Then I definitely have to go into the water,” she said.

“I don’t know what type of array this is,” Chu Huaixu said honestly as he looked at her.

Though experienced in dungeons, he wasn’t omniscient.

“No problem. This secret realm was designed for disciples at the Qi-Opening Stage. It shouldn’t be too hard,” Han Shuangjiang replied casually.

“If we don’t even dare try something like this, how can we claim to seek the Supreme Dao?” she countered.

Even though she was young, Han Shuangjiang already had an inexplicable mature charm. Saying things like this made her seem even more commanding.

Chu Huaixu looked at her and muttered in his heart, “She really is the one who got the【Female Protagonist】script in 《Borrowed Sword》.”

Among players, her female fans outnumbered the males.

Because once Han Shuangjiang matured, she became so cool—she fit the “big sister crush” type perfectly.

“I should go first and test it,” he made a final stand. “After all, I’ve opened five apertures, and you’ve only opened four, right?”

Indeed, after just one night of cultivation, Han Shuangjiang had broken through another aperture—terrifying!

She looked behind and asked, “Do we have time now?”

“If the illusion outside still works, we’ve got plenty of time. They won’t break through anytime soon,” Chu Huaixu shrugged and continued:

“Of course, if they do get through, I can just kick Liu Chengqi in.”

Han Shuangjiang: “......”

—This sly fox really was thinking that!

The Body of Profound Yin looked at him and said aloud, “Good, then we have time.”

With that, she sat cross-legged beside Chu Huaixu and began cultivating the 《Ice Purity Art》.

After circulating her energy through one complete cycle, she opened her beautiful eyes.

“Now, I’ve also reached five apertures,” she said.

......