Wait, How Come You're the One Who Went In?

"Ah, Junior Brother Wang, don't tease your senior brother."

Ren Wencai set down his teacup and shook his head, his tone full of helplessness:

"This year... it's the same as always. As for rankings and such, I've long since stopped caring. I'll leave it to fate."

As he spoke, he even shook his head in sync, looking every bit like a man with no successors and a bleak old age ahead of him.

Seeing this, the elders all offered words of comfort.

"Senior Brother Ren, there's no need to be so pessimistic. Who can say what fate has in store?"

"Exactly, exactly. Maybe you'll recruit a promising young disciple next year."

"It's the thought that counts. It's the thought that counts."

After exchanging a few polite remarks, everyone turned their attention back to their own disciples.

Only Zhao Wuji sat there without a word.

He had spent more than half his life competing with Ren Wencai, and knew the old fellow's nature like the back of his hand.

That old rascal was best at playing the pig to eat the tiger.

Back when they were young, whenever they went out on adventures together, the old rascal would always hang back, keeping everyone in front of him.

But when it came time to seize some crucial opportunity, he'd strike harder than anyone and run faster than anyone.

This pitiful act of his now looked familiar no matter how you sliced it.

Something's not right.

Zhao Wuji muttered inwardly.

If he truly had no trump card, he wouldn't have come here today to sit on the High Platform and take all this abuse.

But Huiyuan Gate really hadn't recruited any genius disciples in the past two years. Zhao Wuji had looked into that himself.

The few new disciples they did have were all of middling aptitude. Only one, Jiang Lu, had made decent progress in cultivation, but that was all. He couldn't possibly make much of a splash.

Thinking this over, he lifted his teacup and used the act of drinking to hide his gaze as he quietly scanned the Huiyuan Gate disciples below.

There were only a few dozen of them, scattered sparsely among the various sects and looking especially shabby.

After studying them carefully, he didn't spot a single disciple with a particularly outstanding cultivation level.

Had he been overthinking it?

Down in the plaza below the High Platform, Gu Chengming was listening to Jiang Lu ramble on about gossip, bored out of his mind.

Suddenly, he felt as if he'd sensed something and looked up toward the High Platform without thinking.

It was too far away to make out the elders' faces. All he could see was a row of blurry silhouettes.

"What's wrong, Senior Brother?" Jiang Lu asked when he noticed his strange expression.

"Nothing."

Gu Chengming looked away and shook his head.

Just then, a deep, melodious bell rang across the entire Sword Seeking Platform.

"Dong—"

The people who had been whispering among themselves fell silent at once.

The assessment had begun.

Of all the people involved, Hundred Bones Ming was the one most excited about the Disciple Assessment—not Gu Chengming.

[Hundred Bones Ming was bursting with excitement. *The Disciple Assessment! At last, it's here!*]

[Next comes killing enemies above my level, making a stunning name for myself, catching the eye of a powerful expert and being taken in as a disciple, and finally competing for the position of Sect Saint, right?]

Good grief. There's no talking to you. Typical power-fantasy protagonist thinking.

Gu Chengming silently complained to himself.

Wenjian Sect didn't even have a Sect Saint position. The closest thing was the Dao Seed of Daoning Gate... He couldn't exactly become a Female Cultivator, could he?

As his thoughts wandered.

"Senior Brother Gu, it's starting!"

Jiang Lu suddenly reminded him in a low voice.

Gu Chengming came back to himself and looked up.

In the center of the plaza, a middle-aged Steward in charge of presiding over the event announced in a clear voice, "The first test: Dao Heart!"

In past Disciple Assessments, disciples had usually competed in cultivation or taken part in combat exercises. No one had ever heard of testing the Dao Heart.

It was an intangible thing, difficult to measure and all too easy to go awry.

On the viewing platform, the elders watched the restless disciples below, each with a different expression.

"Looks like these youngsters weren't expecting this," Zhao Wuji said with an amused smile, taking a sip of tea.

An elderly white-haired man seated in the place of honor slowly spoke.

"The Dao Path is fraught with peril. If one's Dao Heart is unstable, one will ultimately end up as nothing but a handful of Yellow Earth."

Ren Wencai listened to the elders' discussion, feeling quite at ease.

After all, he had personally witnessed Gu Chengming leave a Sword Mark on the Sword Seeking Stone. He knew full well that this first test would be nothing to Gu Chengming.

As the elders spoke, the Formation in the plaza had already activated.

A hazy blue light surged into the sky, instantly enveloping the thousands of disciples in the plaza.

The Formation was called Great Dream Floating Life. As the name suggested, those who entered it experienced a dreamlike illusion.

Those who broke through the Illusion Realm on their own within half an hour would be ranked highest; within an hour, they would be ranked highly; within two hours, they would be ranked average. If they still hadn't awakened when the Formation closed, then their Dao Heart was clouded, and they were unlikely to achieve much.

As the Formation activated, the once-noisy plaza fell silent in an instant.

Elsewhere.

Gu Chengming's vision blurred, and the world around him changed completely.

When he opened his eyes again, he was no longer inside Wenjian Sect.

Clouds swirled around the white jade steps beneath his feet, while golden light streamed from the celestial palaces above.

Countless fairies in flowing robes stood respectfully on either side, holding trays of delicacies and fine wine.

At the top of the steps, a dragon throne symbolizing supreme power awaited him.

Below, countless Cultivators knelt in submission. Among them were even Sect Elders he had met before.

They cried out in unison, "We welcome the Immortal Venerable back to his throne! May the Immortal Venerable reign for ten thousand years and unify the Immortal Realm!"

Gu Chengming stood on the steps, looking down at it all.

"That's it?"

He sighed inwardly. Wasn't this Illusion Realm a little too half-hearted?

As if it had sensed his thoughts, the scene changed.

The celestial palace vanished, replaced by a sultry chamber draped in red silk.

Several peerless beauties surrounded him, each with her own charms, some slender and some voluptuous.

But honestly, with no character art, it wasn't much fun.

For the rest of the time, the Illusion Realm seemed determined to prove itself, showing him one peak of life after another.

Building a career, becoming a marquis and minister, standing unrivaled beneath the heavens, splitting open the gates of heaven with his sword;

it even made him the savior of the world, rescuing all living beings from the depths of suffering...

Couldn't this Illusion Realm fast-forward?

Gu Chengming was starting to lose patience.

In Gala Ge Mu, I usually hold down the Ctrl key and skip this kind of scenario.

The instant that thought crossed his mind, the scenes around him began to warp and speed up.

The beauties who had been chattering in his ear, urging him to drink, suddenly spoke in shrill, frantic voices, their movements jerking as if they were convulsing.

The sun rose and the moon set; the seasons changed. A whole life that should have taken ages to experience now played out as if someone had hit a button and sped it up dozens of times.

All that glory, power, and beauty flashed past his eyes, blurring into a mass of indistinct light and shadow.

"Holy crap? It really can fast-forward?"

Gu Chengming froze.

In just a few breaths, that long life had been fast-forwarded to its end.

The scene stopped on the moment he was about to ascend to immortality.

The gates of heaven swung wide, and celestial music filled the air.

Just then, that familiar dizziness washed over him again.

[Insightful Eyes activated.]

Gu Chengming's eyes lit up as three familiar, translucent option boxes appeared over the scene of his impending ascension.

He couldn't help laughing.

Well, would you look at that? You could play a Galgame even in an Illusion Realm?

He looked at the three options:

[Option One: That's it? Don't you have any more interesting scenarios?]

[Option Two: Replay. I think the part where that fairy was dancing could use another closer look.]

[Option Three: Illusion Realm, break apart! I'm done playing this boring game.]

Gu Chengming didn't hesitate. He chose the third option.

The resplendent celestial palace, the immortals filling the sky, the gates of heaven about to open...

It was like a mirror struck by a pebble, instantly covered in cracks.

"Crack—"

A crisp shattering sound rang out.

The entire scene collapsed in an instant, dissolving into countless points of light.

He broke through the Illusion Realm with ease.

To the outside world, only a single moment had passed.

The spiritual light on the Sword Seeking Platform still shimmered faintly, but Gu Chengming had already opened his eyes.

His gaze was clear, without even a trace of confusion from having just escaped the Illusion Realm.

At his side, hundreds upon hundreds of disciples still had their eyes shut. Some wore pained expressions, while others were drenched in cold sweat. They were clearly trapped in visions of their Inner Demons, struggling desperately to break free.

The scene was so abrupt that the elders, who had been chatting and laughing on the High Platform, all froze at once, teacups still in their hands.

"This..."

An elder Steward responsible for maintaining the Formation furrowed his brow and looked at the Formation markings beneath Gu Chengming. His fingers rapidly formed calculations inside his sleeve, but he couldn't make sense of the results.

"Breaking the Formation in a single moment? That's impossible. Could one of the Formation nodes have fallen into disrepair, causing a malfunction that prevented this disciple from being drawn into the Illusion Realm?"

At his words, the surrounding elders nodded one after another.