Great Female Lead

"Could this be the secret of my Spiritual Fetus?" Chu Huai Xu fell into deep thought.

Han Shuangjiang saw that the Illusionary realm had been broken, yet he was still frowning in thought, so she did not disturb him.

As far as she was concerned, he could do whatever he wanted, as long as he did not look at the puddle of water she had shed behind her.

At that moment, she was also a little curious and glanced behind her.

Ten paths all led to this open space paved with bluestone slabs.

Was there really a maze before the Illusionary realm? she wondered.

Everyone else is still trapped inside, while I somehow got lucky enough to choose correctly at all ten forks? She still found it a little hard to believe.

Besides that, Han Shuangjiang had another question in her heart.

Where's the next trial?

There was nothing here, and there was no path ahead either.

Could it be that this Secret Realm was just fooling people? Was this the end, with the deceased senior who had created it leaving nothing behind?

Having only just entered the Dao Sect, she did not know that such situations really did exist. Some shameless old monsters deliberately toyed with their successors.

Of course, such cases were exceedingly rare.

Chu Huai Xu still could not figure out the Little black sword in his Sea of Consciousness. He also began looking around to see how they should proceed.

There was a stone wall ahead. He walked over and searched it carefully, then casually slapped at it a few times. To his surprise, he actually found a mechanism.

He pressed hard on a protruding section, and a stone door opened.

It was obvious that the key to this trial was the Illusionary realm ahead. The mechanism was not important and had not been hidden very deeply.

The two exchanged a glance before walking forward together.

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

As they walked, Chu Huai Xu muttered, "The Illusionary realm ahead should still work, right? It wasn't destroyed, was it?"

"What is it?" Han Shuangjiang asked, puzzled.

"When Liu Chengqi and the others escape the maze, we can trap them!" Chu Huai Xu said as though it were only natural.

The Big Ice Block let out a soft "uh." She had not even thought of that.

The two chatted as they walked and soon emerged from the stone passage.

What came into view was an Underground River.

It was roughly fifty meters wide.

On the opposite bank stood a stone pillar more than a meter tall.

Something resembling a Compass seemed to have been placed atop it.

Behind it was another stone door.

"What is that?" Han Shuangjiang also noticed the Compass.

"That is a Spirit Disk." Chu Huai Xu was much more knowledgeable than she was.

He explained, "It's used to measure the grade of a Spiritual Fetus."

He had not expected a Spirit Disk to be placed before the stone door here.

Under normal circumstances, blood alone was enough to inspect another person's Spiritual Fetus grade.

Someone like Li Chunsong, a Seventh Realm expert who was also extremely knowledgeable, could detect that Han Shuangjiang possessed a Profound Yin Physique from a single drop of blood.

But ordinary cultivators did not possess such high cultivation. Someone like Liu Tianfeng could at most make the wrong judgment even if he were given a drop of Han Shuangjiang's blood—he would only be able to tell that it was a High-grade Spiritual Embryo!

In truth, Spiritual Fetuses were divided into ten grades. The bottom three were low grade, the middle three were Middle Grade, and the top three were high grade. Above them was the Super Grade Spiritual Embryo, a rarity seen only once in a century!

Without cultivation above the Fifth Realm, even if someone with a high-grade Spiritual Embryo stood before him, he could not distinguish which of the top three grades it was, let alone identify a Super Grade Spiritual Embryo.

The Spirit Disk served to make such fine distinctions.

However, the thing was expensive to produce, and was generally used only by medium- and large-sized sects.

A low-ranking sect like the Joyful Sect had no Great Cultivator either, so it still relied on the most primitive method—testing the Spiritual Fetus with a drop of blood.

A rare-in-a-century Profound Yin Physique like Han Shuangjiang's was a pearl buried in the dust no matter where she went.

A smile appeared on Chu Huai Xu's face when he saw the Spirit Disk.

"This thing must have cost a fortune to make. We can sell it to the sect in exchange for Contribution Points," Chu Huai Xu said.

The moment she heard the words "cost a fortune," the poor wretch beside him began staring fixedly at it.

Chu Huai Xu turned to her and said, "My choice really was right. I should have brought you with me. You're my lucky star."

Han Shuangjiang felt a little embarrassed when he emphasized it again, but she still kept a stern little face and asked, "Why do you say that?"

He pointed ahead and said, "Obviously, this senior had Spiritual Embryo Discrimination."

"Look, there's a Spirit Disk here, and the stone door is behind it."

"My guess is that if the measured grade isn't high enough, that stone door simply won't open!"

Chu Huai Xu could not help recalling an ancient web novel he had read on Earth. Its very first chapter had been titled "The Fallen Genius."

At least Xiao Yan had measured "Dou Qi, Third Stage!"

If he placed his hand on the Spirit Disk, however, it would be the lowest of the low—the pitiful Level One Spiritual Fetus.

Of course, with the Big Ice Block's talent, opening the stone door would be child's play.

Thinking of this, Chu Huai Xu smiled at Han Shuangjiang and said, "So, you're my Key."

"What do you mean, yours and mine?" Han Shuangjiang's cheeks flushed with the faintest hint of red.

First a lucky star, then a Key. What nonsense!

But she basically agreed with Chu Huai Xu's reasoning. Otherwise, why would someone place a Spirit Disk here?

She looked toward the Underground River and asked, "So we just need to cross the river?"

"It definitely won't be that simple." Chu Huai Xu stared at the river.

He walked over to the Underground River, crouched down, and examined it carefully.

The water was clear, but its current was very slow.

There were four holes in the stone wall beneath the river, which seemed to contain mechanisms as well.

At both ends, two stone walls made of enormous rocks hung suspended in midair. They looked as though they might fall and block the flow of water.

"This Secret Realm can only be entered by mortals or people in the Aperture Opening Stage."

"For us, the only option is to swim across," Chu Huai Xu said.

If their cultivation were higher, they could simply leap across, but they could not do that.

"And since this is part of the trial, I suspect that trying to cross the river by other means will also be obstructed." He analyzed the situation based on his experience.

Chu Huai Xu looked around, picked up a small stone, and threw it hard toward the opposite bank.

As expected, the stone struck a Transparent Barrier. A translucent ripple spread through the air, and it could not pass through.

The stone fell into the river, but surprisingly, it did not trigger anything unusual.

He continued testing, throwing several more stones directly into the river, including one that was especially large.

Still, there was no reaction.

"I'm guessing there's a Formation, and it'll activate only when someone goes down there," Chu Huai Xu said.

He had quite an expansive way of thinking. He continued searching around and said, "I wonder if there are any rats or something. We could see whether the Formation activates when any living thing enters the water."

Han Shuangjiang looked at him, seriously suspecting that if Liu Chengqi and the others were standing beside the river right now, this Dead Fox would kick him in to test the waters.

The Big Ice Block suddenly had a thought. "Since Liu Chengqi isn't here, does that mean... I'm the only one?"

"Should I enter the water and try?" she suddenly asked.

Chu Huai Xu froze for a moment. "Huh? Don't mess around!"

Han Shuangjiang's dark, beautiful eyes stared straight at him as she said solemnly, "I'm serious."

Seeing that he did not nod for a long time, she pointed toward the opposite bank.

"And didn't you say that only I can probably open that stone door? Then I definitely have to go into the water," she said.

"I don't know what type of Formation this is." Chu Huai Xu looked at her and stated the facts.

Although he had plenty of experience running dungeons, he was not omniscient.

"It's fine. This Secret Realm was originally prepared for disciples in the Aperture Opening Stage, so it shouldn't be too difficult." Han Shuangjiang appeared quite carefree.

"If I don't even dare to make such a small attempt, how can I prove the Supreme Dao?" she countered.

Han Shuangjiang had inexplicably possessed the air of a mature older sister despite her young age. Saying something like this now made her seem even more strikingly cool.

Looking at her, Chu Huai Xu muttered inwardly, As expected of someone who got the Great Female Lead Script in Borrowed Sword.

Among the players, she had even more female fans than male fans.

That was because Han Shuangjiang, once she grew up, was truly impressive and perfectly embodied the standard of "Sister Slays Me."

"I'll try first." He made one final attempt to insist. "After all, I've opened five apertures, while you've only opened four, right?"

Indeed, after cultivating for an entire night, Han Shuangjiang had actually opened another aperture at astonishing speed. Truly terrifying!

After hearing this, she glanced behind them and asked, "Do we have enough time?"

"If the Illusionary realm outside is still working, then we should have more than enough. They won't be able to break out for a while." Chu Huai Xu shrugged and continued,

"Of course, if they do come in, I can kick Liu Chengqi into the river."

Han Shuangjiang: "..."

This Dead Fox really was thinking that!

The woman with the Profound Yin Physique looked at him and said, "As long as we have enough time."

After saying that, she sat cross-legged beside Chu Huai Xu and actually began cultivating the Ice Purity Art.

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

"Now, I've opened five apertures too," she said.