As her words fell, the voice in her heart spoke again. "Once you reach the summit, what then?"
"Go home!"
This time, Yun Xiao answered without the slightest hesitation.
Go home...
Those two simple words left the voice in her heart silent for a long while. It was as if it hadn't understood what Yun Xiao meant—or perhaps it hadn't expected her wish to be so simple.
"Bzz—"
After a long while, the scene of the cave abruptly changed, transforming into an ancient hall. It stretched out before her, vast and empty, like a desolate place forgotten by all, without a trace of life.
Yun Xiao's eyes cleared, but her back was already slick with cold sweat.
Just now, an unknown force had invaded her mind. It had felt like a pair of eyes that could see through every illusion staring straight at her!
And the words she'd spoken had all been the truest thoughts buried deep in her heart. There had been no chance to lie!
"Was that some kind of test?"
Thinking of the skeletons she'd encountered earlier, Yun Xiao thought she understood.
Great God Pangu had created the Primordial Wilderness by splitting apart heaven and earth. He could be called the ancestor of all living things in the Primordial Wilderness.
Reaching the pinnacle was the goal every cultivator pursued. There was nothing wrong with that.
But if, after reaching the pinnacle, someone intended to rule the Primordial Wilderness or do something else out of line, then surely Pangu wouldn't allow it.
If she'd answered incorrectly just now, she would probably have ended up like those skeletons on the ground, perishing in Buzhou Mountain, forgotten by all!
"What terrifying machinations..."
Yun Xiao secretly counted herself lucky. As expected, great opportunities always came with great dangers.
Her understanding of the dangers of the Primordial Wilderness deepened yet again.
The hall was immense, shrouded everywhere in a hazy gray-white mist. It was impossible to tell how far it stretched or how high it rose. It felt as if she'd arrived in the primordial chaos before heaven and earth were created.
Yun Xiao carefully parted the mist and walked forward, choosing a direction and sticking to it. She couldn't sense anything here. Even time seemed to have stopped.
"Have I been walking for days, months, years, or... centuries?"
She murmured to herself. This place was an endless void, with no direction to be found. Even space and time were indistinct, as if this were a world of its own.
"What can I possibly do to find a way out?"
Yun Xiao thought quietly. She wasn't despairing. Since she'd passed the test to get here, she refused to believe that someone had deliberately trapped her in a dead end!
"Bzz—"
Just then, a light flashed between her brows. A small mirror floated out on its own, sending ripples that flowed into the depths of the mist.
"The Enlightenment Mirror?"
At that moment, Yun Xiao suddenly sensed that somewhere in the direction of the ripples, a treasure was sending out similar waves. Its aura resembled the Enlightenment Mirror's, but its quality was far higher.
The waves were extremely faint. If the Enlightenment Mirror hadn't drawn them out, they would have been almost impossible to detect.
"Is this a resonance between Spiritual Treasures?"
Yun Xiao's expression brightened. With the Enlightenment Mirror above her head, she passed through layers of mist and carefully made her way toward the source of the sensation.
She didn't know how long she walked. The mist grew thinner and thinner, and Yun Xiao quickened her pace. Before long, she finally passed through it, and her long-lost sense of space and time returned.
But Yun Xiao didn't go any farther.
A massive gate stood right in front of her, like a portal to heaven. It stretched beyond sight and towered beyond measure, completely blocking her way!
The gate was incredibly imposing. She couldn't tell what it was made of, but it gave off an overwhelming force that seemed to press down on mountains and rivers, like countless divine mountains standing before her.
What shocked Yun Xiao most, however, were two lines of ancient characters engraved on the gate. Their strokes were powerful, carved deep into its surface!
"If the Great Dao has no path, then I shall carve one with my own strength!"
Yun Xiao read the words aloud, deeply shaken.
What incredible boldness!
If there was no path to the Great Dao, then one would carve out a path with one's own strength. It was so overbearing that words could hardly describe it!
The Great Dao was intangible and ancient beyond the reach of any written record. Ordinary beings couldn't even dream of coming into contact with it; most might not even know it existed.
Yet these words revealed the boundless ambition of the one who'd left them behind—the pride of looking down on the mountains and rivers of all ages, daring to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Great Dao and break through it by force!
"Could these words have been left behind by Great God Pangu?"
"If so, he truly stood between heaven and earth, with a spirit that swallowed the cosmos!"
Yun Xiao stared at the two lines, and a fierce sense of boldness suddenly rose within her.
She even felt her blood begin to boil!
She slowly walked forward and couldn't help reaching out to touch the words. In an instant, the world spun around her. Time raced forward, then backward, then forward again...
At last, an image suddenly formed in her mind.
In the image, a Giant who towered between heaven and earth stood upon a thirty-six-petaled Azure Lotus. A Jade Disc floated above his head, and he held a Divine Axe that reached the heavens. Brilliant Green Light shone all around him.
Before the Giant stood countless enormous beings. Just one glance at them was enough to make one's mind tremble.
Yun Xiao could sense that any one of those beings would be enough to flatten the Primordial Wilderness as it was now.
But those beings were not alive. Every last one of them had been slain by the Giant!
Their multicolored blood stained the entire world, turning it into a twisted, abstract painting!
The next moment, the Giant began to expand without limit, until he broke through the chaos, radiating the mighty force of creation!
"My Dao..."
The Giant gazed into the distance. Amid the Great Dao's thunderous roar, he swung his axe through the chaos, cleaving open a vast rift that defied description!
In that moment, boundless pressure surged from the rift. The Giant stood firm, but the Jade Disc above his head, the Azure Lotus beneath his feet, and the Divine Axe in his hand all shattered under the pressure, turning into several streaks of light that flew in every direction.
"Become the Dao with my body, and at last attain the Supreme."
The Giant murmured to himself. Like a burning blue sun, he took one step into the vast rift in the chaos.
At the same time, the image vanished, and Yun Xiao's consciousness returned to reality.
"Was that Giant... Great God Pangu?"
She drew a deep breath. The image she'd just seen had been truly staggering.
It took quite a while for Yun Xiao to recover. But when she was about to examine the gate again, she suddenly let out a startled "Huh?"
At some point, she had already passed through the gate and was standing inside a magnificent hall.
On the wall deep within the hall was a single character: "Dao." It looked as though it had formed naturally, blending seamlessly into the wall and radiating indescribable Dao Rhyme.
At the very center of the character was a fragment embedded deep in the wall. Its appearance was identical to the Jade Disc of Creation above Great God Pangu's head in the image she'd just seen!
The resonant waves that the Enlightenment Mirror had drawn out had also come from this fragment.
A fragment of the Jade of Creation!
Yun Xiao's eyes lit up. No wonder the Enlightenment Mirror had reacted. They were both treasures for comprehending the Dao, and it had been drawn here by the Jade Disc's aura!
The Jade Disc of Creation was, after all, the legendary supreme treasure for comprehending the Dao!
It was said that Great God Pangu owed his incredible achievements partly to his extraordinary origins, but the Jade Disc of Creation had also played a major role!
"As expected, great risks conceal great opportunities. Judging by its size, this should be the main fragment of the Jade Disc of Creation."
Yun Xiao's eyes shone. But just as she was about to use her magical power to draw the treasure toward her—
"Bzz—"
The next moment, two streaks of light suddenly burst from the character "Dao" carved into the wall. They converged into two paths that appeared before Yun Xiao!
The two paths blocked the aura of the fragment of the Jade Disc of Creation. If she wanted to claim the treasure, she had to choose one of them!
"These paths..."
Yun Xiao's mind stirred. Mist stretched into the distance along both paths. On one, the mist formed the character "Life." On the other, it formed the character "Perish"!
"Perish!"
The character was deeply ominous. It represented a realm no cultivator wanted to approach. And appearing here, it looked as if it had been written in blood, like a gate to hell!
"Life," on the other hand, was filled with profound Dao Rhyme. Every stroke seemed to expound the Great Dao's truths, drawing the heart toward it.
Life. Perish.
Yun Xiao looked at the two paths before her and fell into thought.
Another test had been placed before her.
This time, it was more direct than ever: one path to life, one path to death, laid out plainly for her to choose.
Yun Xiao knew this much:
If she chose the wrong path, she would likely meet a fate from which there was no return!
Before you continue