Heart Demon Interrogation

When Lin Xiao's voice, so cold it lacked any warmth, echoed across the silent training grounds, the hearts of all the losers lying on the ground clenched violently. A chill originating from the depths of their souls instantly surged through their limbs like a tide!

Surprise?

Seeing the familiar, scalp-tingling "kind" smile on Lin Xiao's lips, they would rather fight a Third-Order Demonic Beast again than receive this so-called "surprise"!

"Chief Instructor..."

A student who had lost an arm during the free-for-all struggled to get up from the ground, forcing a smile that was uglier than crying. His voice trembled as he said, "We... we know we were wrong... Please spare us this once..."

"Spare you?"

The smile on Lin Xiao's face grew even brighter.

He walked slowly to the student with the severed arm, bent down, and asked in an almost gentle tone, "Tell me, when you eventually step onto the battlefield, and your arm is severed by an enemy, and you're trampled underfoot, about to have your life taken, will your enemy spare you just because you beg for mercy?"

The student's face instantly turned as pale as paper. He couldn't utter a single word.

"No."

Lin Xiao answered the question for him.

He slowly stood up, his gaze like a knife sweeping across every loser present. His voice suddenly turned sharp, like the frigid wind from the nine netherworlds, making one's bones ache!

"There is no mercy on the battlefield, only life and death! Mercy towards the enemy is cruelty towards yourself! Similarly, there are no words of 'begging for mercy' on my training grounds!"

"You are losers! And losers must accept punishment!"

"This is the second lesson I'm teaching you!"

With that, he ignored their gazes filled with despair and fear and began taking things out of his storage ring.

They were pitch-black formation flags and jade stones inscribed with complex runes.

"Bring all of them to the center of the training grounds," Lin Xiao commanded Shi Lei, Su Yue, and Monkey, who were still standing.

Although the three of them felt a pang of sympathy, they knew better than anyone that these were orders! An ironclad rule that could not be disobeyed!

They exchanged glances and silently stepped forward, dragging their companions, who had long since lost all fighting spirit and were like lambs awaiting slaughter, one by one to the center of the training grounds.

Then, under everyone's watchful, uncertain eyes, Lin Xiao began meticulously arranging the formation flags and jade stones around them according to some obscure pattern.

Soon, a simple formation with a diameter of about ten zhang was completed.

"Is this... a formation?" Su Yue couldn't help but ask softly, looking at the formation flags emitting an ominous aura. She had dabbled in some books about formations in the Library Pavilion, but she had never seen such a bizarre one.

"That's right," Lin Xiao nodded, a mysterious smile appearing on his face. "A 'little gift' I prepared especially for them."

He walked to the core of the formation and embedded the last blood-red jade stone into a groove in the ground.

"Buzz--!"

As the blood-red jade stone was embedded, the entire formation was instantly activated!

Streams of pitch-black light shot up from the formation flags, intertwining in mid-air to form a massive black curtain of light. It was like a giant inverted bowl, completely enveloping the twenty-six losers!

"Ah!"

"What is this?!"

"My head... it hurts so much!"

Frenzied screams instantly erupted from within the formation!

The students trapped inside clutched their heads and fell to the ground, writhing in pain! Their faces showed extreme fear, as if they had witnessed the most terrifying thing in the world!

Some frantically clawed at the dirt on the ground, as if trying to escape some unseen pursuit; others wildly swung their fists and legs at the empty air, letting out unintelligible roars; still others were weeping uncontrollably, curled up on the ground, trembling like abandoned infants!

A chaotic dance of demons!

The entire formation had become like the most terrifying madhouse!

"Chief Instructor! What... what's happening to them?!"

Outside the formation, Shi Lei watched the bizarre and terrifying scene before him, feeling a chill rush from the soles of his feet straight to the crown of his head!

He couldn't even begin to imagine what kind of terrifying torment his companions were experiencing!

"It's nothing."

Lin Xiao's expression remained terrifyingly calm.

"I've merely triggered the most fearful, weakest, and most unbearable aspects deep within their hearts."

"This formation is called the 'Heart Demon Interrogation Array'."

"It will not cause any substantial physical harm. However, it will infinitely magnify a person's deepest negative emotions—fear, despair, jealousy, regret..."

Lin Xiao looked at the figures struggling painfully in the illusion, his eyes icy.

"Didn't you learn betrayal and sneak attacks during the previous free-for-all?"

"Fine. In this formation, you will personally experience what it's like to be stabbed in the back by the brother you trusted the most!"

"Aren't you afraid of failure, afraid of death?"

"Then you will experience the pain of being brutally slaughtered by the enemy in the most cruel way a thousand, ten thousand times in this formation!"

"Weren't you once insecure because of your weakness, and jealous of others' strength?"

"Then you will see the people you care about most die miserably before your eyes because of your incompetence! Your most hated enemies will soar to the heavens, trample you underfoot, and humiliate you at will!"

Every word Lin Xiao spoke was like a demonic chant from hell, chilling Shi Lei and the other two outside the formation to the bone!

How was this a punishment?!

This was simply the most vicious and cruel mental torture!

"Physical pain only makes one stronger. But only by conquering the fear originating from the depths of the soul can a truly fearless heart of a strong person be born!"

Lin Xiao's voice echoed clearly in their ears.

"This is the third lesson I've given them."

"Look clearly. This is the fate of the weak! If you don't want to end up looking as pathetic as they do one day, then strive to become stronger with all your might!"

The Heart Demon Interrogation lasted for an entire night.

When the first ray of dawn pierced the darkness and shone upon the earth the next morning, Lin Xiao slowly waved his hand and dispelled the terrifying formation that had been operating all night.

The black light screen quietly dissipated.

It revealed the twenty-six figures inside, collapsed on the ground like puddles of mud.

They were not dead.

In fact, they didn't even have a single scratch on them.

But their condition was more miserable than death.

Every one of them had a bloodless face and hollow, vacant eyes, as if all their souls had been drained, leaving behind only empty shells of walking corpses. Their bodies were still trembling violently and uncontrollably, as if they were still trapped in the endless nightmare of last night, unable to break free.

Shi Lei and the other two were speechless as they looked at the hellish scene before them.

They finally understood the weight of the "surprise" Lin Xiao had spoken of.

"All of you, get up!"

Just then, Lin Xiao's cold voice rang out again.

However, this time, there was no response. The failures remained sprawled on the ground like corpses, unmoving.

Their spirits had been completely crushed.

"Oh? It seems last night's 'surprise' wasn't quite enough."

A dangerous curve appeared on Lin Xiao's lips.

He slowly walked up to a disciple closest to him. This disciple had been the most cowardly during yesterday's skirmish and was the first to be eliminated.

"Slap!"

Without any warning, Lin Xiao fiercely slapped the disciple across the face!

The crisp sound of the slap was exceptionally jarring in the quiet morning!

The disciple's face instantly swelled up, a bright red handprint starkly visible.

A flicker of emotion finally appeared in his hollow eyes. He slowly raised his head and looked at Lin Xiao with a dazed, uncomprehending gaze.

"Trash."

Lin Xiao looked down at him from above, softly uttering two words.

The disciple's body trembled violently!

"You think you've experienced pain and despair after a night of illusions?"

Lin Xiao's voice was filled with disdain.

"I'm telling you, that was just child's play!"

"True despair is watching your home destroyed and your loved ones slaughtered with your own eyes, yet not even having the right to avenge them!"

"True pain is having to kneel before your enemy like a dog, wagging your tail for survival!"

"The real hell is having the opportunity to change everything, but because of your own cowardice and laziness, you can only live out your life in endless regret!"

Each word Lin Xiao spoke was like the sharpest dagger, stabbing fiercely into the hearts of that disciple and all the failures present!

"Look at yourselves now!"

"Just a mere night of illusions has turned you into trash worse than dogs!"

"How dare you talk about being 'strong'?! How dare you contend for that illusory glory?!"

"You are nothing but cowards who lack the courage to face your own hearts!"

"All of you, get back to your beds and continue your unrealistic daydreams!"

With that, Lin Xiao turned his back and no longer looked at them, as if they were mere garbage not worth his breath.

Dead silence.

The entire training ground once again fell into a deathly quiet.

The vacant eyes of the fallen losers on the ground gradually began to show something else.

Shame.

Anger.

Even more so, a refusal to accept defeat, awakened after being slapped hard by the cruelest reality!

That's right...

In last night's illusions, they had all experienced the deepest despair.

They had all watched helplessly as everything they cherished was ruthlessly crushed!

The pain of powerlessness, the regret that sank into their bones, was ten thousand times more agonizing than any physical torment!

And now, Lin Xiao was telling them that all of it could possibly become reality!

If they remained as cowardly as they were now!

"No..."

A hoarse growl, like that of a wild beast, was painstakingly squeezed out from the trainee who had been slapped by Lin Xiao first.

He used his uninjured arm to prop himself up on the ground, his body trembling violently from exertion as he struggled to stand up bit by bit!

His eyes had long since turned blood red!

Within them burned a flame called "unwillingness to accept defeat," capable of incinerating everything!

"I am not a waste!!"

He roared hysterically at Lin Xiao's retreating back with all his might!

This roar seemed like a signal.

The second, third, fourth...

One by one, figures shakily but resolutely rose from the "corpses"!

Tears still streaked their faces.

Their bodies still trembled from lingering fear.

But their eyes had completely changed!

It was the gaze of wolves reborn, having gone through hell's baptism and personally buried all their weakness!

"We are not cowards!!"

Twenty-six hoarse roars filled with determination converged into an earth-shattering wave that shot straight into the sky!

Looking at the "evil spirits" who had finally crawled back from hell before him, Lin Xiao slowly turned around.

His face remained expressionless.

But in the depths of his eyes, a flicker of relief, unnoticed even by himself, flashed by.

"Very good."

"Since you all still want to be human."

"Then prove it to me with your subsequent performance!"

"Phase two special training continues!"

"Today's free-for-all begins now!!"

From this day on, the "hell" for Yellow Class Nine truly descended.

The extreme weight-bearing runs every early morning. The devilish strength training every morning. The bloody free-for-all every afternoon. And the "heart demon interrogation" feast "meticulously" prepared for the losers every night.

This cruel cycle, like a precise meat grinder, operated mercilessly day after day.

And the youths of Yellow Class Nine were repeatedly shattered and reshaped, shattered and reshaped within this meat grinder!

Their bodies became increasingly robust under the tempering of the "Ten Thousand Poisons Hell Soup"! Their wills became increasingly tenacious under the torment of the "Heart Demon Interrogation Array"! And their combat skills and killing instincts grew wildly in an almost barbaric manner during the endless internal free-for-alls!

They became increasingly silent, and increasingly dangerous!

One month later.

When the new day's free-for-all once again concluded.

There were as many as ten figures left standing on the entire training ground!

And their cultivation had already collectively broken through to the peak of Body Refinement Fourth Level without them even realizing it! Among them, the few led by Shi Lei, Su Yue, and Monkey had already taken half a step into the threshold of Body Refinement Fifth Level!

An invisible, heart-palpitating aura of iron and blood began to quietly take shape within this young team!

They were no longer eaglets.

But a pack of wolves showing their fangs!

Lin Xiao, on the high rock, took it all in.

He knew that phase two of the special training had achieved the expected results.

It was time to open the final door leading to the ultimate trial.