Stop!

She's starting the trial already?

At least give me a chance to prepare!

What should I do?

What should I do?

Su Ling'er instantly dodged the figure with a flash of movement, finally getting a clear look at the monster.

"Awooo—"

A wolf's howl rang out from the monster.

It was a Wolf Yao, a whole size larger than an ordinary Yao Wolf!

Its fangs were bared, and its beastly eyes were fixed intently on Su Ling'er.

Good, it's not strong. I can still react in time.

But... with this wooden sword?

Don't tell me I'm supposed to chop the Wolf Yao with this wooden sword?

Without using Spiritual Power or cultivation, just relying on ordinary martial arts?

Do they expect me to punch and kick this Wolf Yao?

But I've never tempered my body, and I'm not strong, either!

The Wolf Yao moved again!

It drove off with all four legs, moving too fast to react to, and pounced at Su Ling'er once more.

A foul wind rushed toward her. Su Ling'er's pupils narrowed. For an instant, her Spiritual Power instinctively sensed the threat and nearly burst out of her body to form a defensive shield!

She bit down hard on her lower lip and abruptly shifted her footing, barely managing to slide half a step to the side.

The wolf's claw grazed her clothes, tearing off a piece of fabric.

Thank goodness...

But the Wolf Yao gave her no time to catch her breath. It lunged at her again, jaws gaping wide.

Su Ling'er looked at Lin Qingfeng in the distance.

Was he really not going to come save her?

This is bad, this is bad!

She could only swing the fire-poker-like wooden sword in front of her.

At least it was a wooden stick. That was better than fighting the Wolf Yao bare-handed!

The thrust was plain and ordinary, without Spiritual Power or any fancy flourishes.

She was already prepared for the wooden sword to snap, at which point she would abandon it and flee behind Senior Disciple Brother.

But then she heard a soft squelch, the sound of a blade sinking into flesh!

The wooden sword's [Sever (Tier 1)] and [Ward Off Evil (Tier 1)] traits activated at once.

Su Ling'er froze.

She looked down. The wooden sword had effortlessly wounded the Wolf Yao's face. It had even burst one of its eyes!

This wooden sword was so powerful?

Was this really a wooden sword?

How could it feel completely unremarkable?

The Wolf Yao recoiled two steps, pain twisting its face.

Su Ling'er seized the chance to slip into its blind spot and thrust the wooden sword straight into its head!

Squelch!

The wooden sword sank effortlessly into the Wolf Yao's head, all the way to the hilt.

The Wolf Yao's body twitched a few times, then fell silent on the ground.

Blood trickled down the wooden blade and dripped onto the ground.

Then, with a soft poof, the Wolf Yao's corpse turned into a wisp of green smoke and vanished without a trace.

Su Ling'er flicked the sword and stared at it in disbelief.

Not a drop of blood clung to the blade, yet it still looked like a plain fire poker.

The wooden sword looked like an ordinary piece of wood, but that strike had been sharper than tempered steel!

What was going on?

Could this wooden sword be no ordinary item?

If it wasn't, why would it be handed out to the disciples for free?

Before she could figure it out, Lin Qingfeng's voice came from nearby:

"Not bad. You're fairly nimble, and you've got some foundation in ordinary martial arts."

"But you should know that the struggle for the Great Dao is often decided by the tiniest margin."

"If your Dao heart had wavered even a little in that instant, you might have been stopped here for good."

If she died right after entering, Su Ling'er's score would amount to clearing only one level.

Elder Qian would record it, too. When the Monster Locking Tower leaderboard came out, she'd be dead last, no question!

Even the players hadn't been so useless as to die after clearing only one level!

She might not be embarrassed, but he was.

And would seeing her rock-bottom score cause Su Ling'er some sort of psychological trauma?

Probably not...

Her aptitude was already so poor that she must know where she stood.

But there was no guarantee... Never mind. At least she'd cleared the first level.

Su Ling'er held the wooden sword and said nothing.

The trial in the Monster Locking Tower that followed only confirmed her suspicions.

The second level held a Two-headed Yao Wolf.

The third held a thick-skinned Yao Pig.

The fourth held thirteen nimble Magic Monkeys.

Armed with nothing but the wooden sword and ordinary martial arts, Su Ling'er escaped danger time and again.

But by the fourth level, she was indeed starting to run out of strength.

Even with the wooden sword in hand, she was beginning to struggle.

Still, she didn't dare reveal her true cultivation.

Lin Qingfeng stood to the side the whole time, saying nothing, his gaze utterly vacant.

He was browsing the forums. His junior sister was fighting too slowly, and he'd gotten bored watching.

The fifth level had a minor elite monster, so he might need to pay attention to how his junior sister handled it.

The rest of the time, wasn't browsing forums for lines to sound cool with better?

At last, Su Ling'er reached the fifth level of the Monster Locking Tower.

The world before her twisted abruptly, transforming into a dark, damp cavern.

Drip... drip...

Drops of water fell from the stalactites overhead.

In the deathly silent cavern, the sound rang out with unusual clarity.

Her back was already soaked with cold sweat, and her strength was rapidly draining away.

She had a powerful premonition that the monster on this level was more terrifying than the previous four combined!

Scrape... scrape...

A scraping sound came from the shadows deep within the cavern.

The shadows stirred!

A giant scorpion, nearly a hundred zhang long, slowly crawled out, dragging its rock-like body behind it.

Its carapace gleamed a dull, ashen gray. Its massive pincers opened and closed, their edges flashing with the cold gleam of metal.

Most deadly of all was its tail, arched high above it.

The stinger at its tip glowed a faint purple.

A Rock Armor Scorpion!

Su Ling'er's heart sank to the bottom.

Against a monster of this caliber, she had no chance of winning without using Spiritual Power!

The Rock Armor Scorpion spotted her, too.

All six of its terrifying compound eyes turned at once, locking onto the tiny human.

One of its massive pincers repeatedly scraped at the ground!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

It easily gouged shallow pits into the hard stone floor.

It was showing off its strength!

Looking at the Rock Armor Scorpion's impenetrable armor, Su Ling'er knew full well that if she kept pretending through this fight, she would definitely die!

Ordinary martial arts were a joke against a monster like this!

Her only chance of survival was to use her cultivation!

But... the moment she did... her gaze instinctively flicked toward Lin Qingfeng.

Hm?

What are you up to now?

Lin Qingfeng was still standing there, his body rigid, his eyes vacant, utterly unresponsive.

Had he been possessed?

The monsters on the previous levels hadn't been this powerful.

Then... he was pretending!

He'd deliberately put on this act to see whether she'd reveal her cultivation when pushed to the brink while he was like this!

What should I do?

Sect Master, what should I do?

If I reveal it, the Undercover Mission will fail on the spot.

The Demonic Sect might treat me as an outsider and eliminate me.

They might refine me into a living pill, use me as material for a blood sacrifice, or turn me into fertilizer for Human Origin Soil...

If I don't reveal it, this Rock Armor Scorpion will tear me to pieces right now!

It was a question of whether I die sooner or later.

No!

I can't reveal it!

I can only take a gamble!

I'll bet that I'm still useful to Senior Disciple Brother, and that he won't actually let me die!

Su Ling'er's gaze turned resolute!

The Rock Armor Scorpion sprang into motion!

Its enormous body became a gray bolt of lightning as it charged at her!

So fast!

Su Ling'er barely dodged to the side, but the Rock Armor Scorpion's massive pincer crashed into the wooden sword in her hand!

Clang—!

A deafening clash of metal and wood rang out!

A tremendous force surged through the blade, splitting the skin between her thumb and forefinger. The wooden sword nearly flew from her grasp!

The sword hadn't broken, but it no longer sliced through monsters like mud as it had before.

It left only a shallow scratch on the pincer, from which wisps of white smoke drifted with a sizzle.

But to the massive pincer, this was a negligible bit of corrosion.

The weapon that had been so effective against the monsters on the first four levels was now useless!

The Rock Armor Scorpion didn't stop attacking.

It spun around and slammed Su Ling'er, who had no leverage after blocking its attack, into the stone wall!

Bang!

Pfft—!

She spat blood. Her vision darkened, her internal organs felt as though they'd been displaced, and every breath brought searing pain.

It hurts...

She struggled to get up, but her body wouldn't obey her.

The Rock Armor Scorpion advanced step by step. Its venom-coated tail rose high, the stinger aimed straight at her face!

In Su Ling'er's pupils, the stinger's purple glow grew larger and larger until it filled her entire field of vision.

It's over...

Am I going to die?

Is Senior Disciple Brother really not coming to save me?

Is this... how it ends for me?

Three years of cultivation, and I was still at Qi Refining Level 3. In the end... I couldn't even see the threshold of Foundation Establishment...

My master's instructions... the hopes of the Righteous Path... I've betrayed them all...

And that True Explanation—I hadn't even had the chance to grasp a fraction of its mysteries. Now I'd be reduced to dust along with it...

I can't accept this... I really can't!

Just then, she heard Senior Disciple Brother's voice.

"Stop!"

Su Ling'er's pupils snapped into focus.

"Stop"?

What did he mean?

Could he control the monsters here?!

Could it be... that this had all been a scene he'd arranged?!

But the Rock Armor Scorpion's movements didn't pause at all. Its deadly tail hook still whistled through the air as it stabbed straight down!

No way?!

It wasn't listening to him?!

It wasn't even human. What good would shouting "Stop" do?!

It was over... over... She was really going to die...

Lin Qingfeng!

I won't let you get away with this, even as a ghost—!

Su Ling'er's mind went blank. In despair, she even closed her eyes.