Beside the Underground River, Han Shuangjiang rose to her feet, her gaze firm, revealing the stubbornness in her nature.
She had promised to help Chu Huai Xu obtain his opportunity.
You said I was your Key? Fine, then I'll help you open this stone gate!
Chu Huai Xu watched her break through the Fifth Aperture with ease and was consumed with envy.
"System, level me up too! Come on, level me up, damn it!"
He didn't have enough Cultivation Technique Experience Points, so there was no way he could do it.
The two exchanged a glance, and he understood what she meant.
Chu Huai Xu could only sigh and say, "All right, then."
As a professional gaming companion, he had his own work habits. How could he let the clients take risks while he was on the clock?
But logically speaking, an ordinary Secret Realm trial shouldn't be able to stop the World Protagonists.
Besides, being protected by a woman didn't feel so bad.
"Be careful," he reminded her.
"Okay."
As soon as the words left her mouth, Han Shuangjiang plunged straight into the water.
Chu Huai Xu was left on the riverbank, sighing with admiration. As expected of the Great Female Lead who focused single-mindedly on "building her career" in Borrowed Sword—she didn't waste a second.
The Water Repelling Bead Liu Tianfeng had given them had, by a lucky coincidence, proved its worth once more.
The Big Ice Block didn't get soaked and reveal her slender, stunning curves.
Everything happened just as Chu Huai Xu had expected. The moment she entered the water, the Formation sprang to life.
The two stone walls on either side no longer hung suspended in the air. They dropped down, blocking the slow-moving current.
The place was no longer an Underground River.
Instead, it became a huge pool.
There were four fist-sized holes underwater. Chu Huai Xu kept watching them, suspecting they were some kind of mechanism or something that worked in tandem with the Formation.
Han Shuangjiang, already in the water, was keeping an eye on them too.
For the moment, though, the four holes showed no sign of anything unusual.
The next instant, the Formation beneath the water activated!
Some of the water became wrapped in Spiritual Power, like Water Blades!
They suddenly converged on Han Shuangjiang.
With her cultivation at the Aperture Opening Stage, there was no way she could dodge them!
There were simply too many Water Blades.
They swept in from every direction, and Han Shuangjiang couldn't swim to the other side in time.
The barrier from the Water Repelling Bead could only keep the water away. It was soon sliced apart by the Water Blades.
Water instantly surrounded and soaked Han Shuangjiang. The Water Blades sliced through her clothes and cut her fair skin, leaving one bloody streak after another in the water.
The pain nearly sent her sinking straight down.
Chu Huai Xu's eyes narrowed, and he immediately prepared to do something.
But Han Shuangjiang spoke up just then. "I'm fine. I can swim to the other side."
Strangely enough, the Water Blades didn't seem to strike very hard.
All they could do was cut her skin, leaving shallow bloody lines.
Even so, there were far too many of them!
They came from every direction underwater, and their numbers kept growing!
Han Shuangjiang dodged some as she swam, but still ended up with seven or eight cuts.
The four holes beneath the water rumbled.
Right after that, a large amount of dark green liquid poured out of them.
Chu Huai Xu's pupils contracted. This is bad.
Anyone would be startled to see liquid of that color suddenly gush out.
He had been standing beside one of the holes, watching it closely.
As soon as the liquid appeared, he quickly caught a strange smell.
"Is that... medicinal?"
"Is it a spirit medicine?"
"Dark green, and that familiar smell... It's Body Tempering Potion!" he realized at once.
Body Tempering Potion was used for Medicinal Baths.
Cultivators who followed the path of Body Tempering had to brutally abuse their bodies every day.
Afterward, they would soak in Body Tempering Potion.
The places where their skin had been torn open healed quickly, making the potion effective for treating injuries, as well as slightly strengthening the Physique.
Chu Huai Xu could tell from the smell that it was the real deal. He was certain it was top-grade Body Tempering Potion, and that it could also remove scars.
He had to remember: this dungeon was the Pill King Token. The senior who had left it behind had been an official disciple of the Pill King—and a pill alchemist!
The entire pool soon changed color.
Once the Body Tempering Potion soaked into Han Shuangjiang's wounds, they began healing rapidly.
Chu Huai Xu looked toward the stone gate on the opposite bank, a bad feeling rising in his heart.
He suspected that even if Han Shuangjiang managed to swim across, the Transparent Barrier there would stop her from reaching shore!
The person who had designed this trial wanted you to keep getting hurt in the pool, then keep healing.
They would cut one wound after another into you, heal them, then cut you again!
"Damn it, what a sick bastard!" Chu Huai Xu looked at the stone gate across the river and cursed inwardly.
The distance was fifty meters. With the physical fitness of someone at the Aperture Opening Stage, she could swim across quickly.
Events unfolded just as Chu Huai Xu had expected. The Transparent Barrier on the opposite bank remained in place.
Han Shuangjiang was still submerged in the water, unable to reach the shore, held back by the barrier.
She raised her hand and punched the barrier. A translucent ripple appeared in the air, but she couldn't move it at all.
Her brow furrowed. A few strands of wet hair clung to her forehead, and she let out another muffled groan.
The Water Blades were still growing more numerous.
Some wounds were healing quickly, but new ones kept appearing.
Han Shuangjiang tried climbing up and over the barrier to escape the pool. But the barrier was like some mysterious force, and she couldn't do it.
That meant she would have to stay in the water.
"Probably just have to tough it out for a while. Once the time's up, the trial will end." That was Chu Huai Xu's guess.
There was no denying it: this was a sick design.
Even if you'd prepared a bamboo raft in your Storage Token, it would be useless.
If no one went into the water, the Formation wouldn't activate, and the countdown wouldn't begin.
And cultivators at the Aperture Opening Stage had no Spiritual Power in their bodies, so they couldn't use Magic Artifacts either.
"Some robes made from Heaven's materials and earthly treasures don't need Spiritual Power to activate and still have defensive properties. Water Blades this weak wouldn't work on them or hurt them at all."
"But with this sick bastard's design, I strongly suspect the Formation won't keep running if it doesn't draw blood!"
"After Han Shuangjiang started bleeding, the second Formation activated, and the Body Tempering Potion began pouring out!"
"The question now is whether the person who designed this trial really is the kind of sicko I think he is—whether the countdown really starts only after someone gets hurt, and whether there's even a countdown at all!"
After all, that was only his guess. Maybe the point of this trial wasn't that, but to make you think quickly in a crisis and find another way to break through?
But that didn't matter. He'd find out as soon as he got in the water!
The System would probably give him a hint in an early-game dungeon like this!
The Water Blades in the pool kept multiplying.
The next wave would double in number.
And the most nerve-racking part was that you couldn't tell how many more waves there would be, or how many times they'd multiply.
Han Shuangjiang was stubborn and had her own principles.
Now, she clenched her teeth, enduring the pain.
The wounds weren't deep, but there were too many of them.
One cut on her arm healed, only for another to appear.
Her thighs were even worse.
Her clothes had been slashed into tatters by the Water Blades.
Some of her smooth, fair skin was left exposed.
Even then, she gritted her teeth and called out, "I-I'm fine! Help me look for a way to break through!"
Still trying to act tough.
"Stay right there!" Chu Huai Xu shouted.
Then he leapt into the water!
Before you continue