Separation from Loved Ones, Love Was Beyond Him

After holding hands and passing through the mist, Tang Ruowei and Li Jinyao found themselves together on the steep cliff they had been on before.

Unlike Bai Qiuran, the two girls couldn't move swiftly up the near-vertical cliffs. They quickly summoned their swords, stepped onto them, and hovered in mid-air.

Now that they had passed the trial, the two girls were shrouded in a layer of Cloudmist, and could only vaguely see the mountaintop and the foot of the mountain.

Li Jinyao looked up and down, then suddenly asked, "Junior Sister Ruowei, how far away do you think we are from the summit?"

Upon hearing this, Tang Ruowei squinted and looked towards the mountaintop. Using her experience in Surveying and Mapping, she could almost instantly estimate the approximate distance.

"The vertical distance is approximately 350 zhang."

"Really."

After looking up for a moment, Li Jinyao said, "From where I am, it's about 750 zhang. So, each trial that crosses a misty area is equivalent to crossing a distance of about 350 zhang, and there are gaps of 25 zhang in height between the misty areas."

"But you said it was seven hundred and fifty zhang..."

"Yes, although we are standing beside each other now, we are in a misaligned space, because I have already passed a trial before you."

Li Jinyao nodded.

"How do the Earth Immortal manipulate this spatial displacement? I'm very curious..."

"Being curious now won't lead to anything."

Tang Ruowei looked down into the foggy area.

"Let's keep moving forward, Sister Li. Maybe in the next trial, we'll run into someone familiar."

"That's true."

Li Jinyao nodded.

The two girls, hand in hand, ventured into the next misty area. After a moment of spatial disorientation, they found themselves on a vast, boundless plain.

In front of and behind him were plains covered with fragrant grass, and above him was a beautiful night sky dotted with Stars. This space did not look like a dangerous trial scene, but rather like a classic location for lovers to confess their love as described in a book.

What kind of trial is this?

Tang Ruowei looked left and right curiously.

"I don't know either... but it doesn't seem like a test of strength or physical prowess."

Li Jinyao looked around curiously as well, and said, "Before you, I had experienced the trials of [the Suffering of Death]. That trial sent me to the Ghost Realm, where I encountered a Behemoths that was like a worm made entirely of bones. It had the strength of the early stage of the Spirit Severing, and it took me a lot of effort to kill it."

Tang Ruowei clicked her tongue in amazement.

"I speculate that the first four sufferings are related to the body and strength, while the latter four are related to the mind and spirit. This should be one of the latter four sufferings."

Li Jinyao replied, "Given that we have already passed [Unfulfilled Desire], and [The Five Blazing Aggregates] is particularly subtle, this is probably one of [Meeting with Those You Hate] or [Separation from Loved Ones]."

"First, we need to find the Stone Stele."

Tang Ruowei suggested.

Because it was a flat area, the two girls easily found the Trial Stone Stele in a corner of the plain. More importantly, they saw a handsome young man with White Hair and eyebrows leisurely stepping out from the spatial ripples below the Stone Stele.

Both were astonished upon meeting. Tang Ruowei blinked, Consciousness wanting to call out "Master," but Li Jinyao suddenly stepped in front of her and asked the White Hair senior she seemed to have a good impression of, "Senior! Please use three seconds to come up with a line of poetry to describe Junior Sister Ruowei's magnanimity!"

Bai Qiuran slightly taken aback when asked the question. He glanced Consciousness at the surrounding plains, then replied without hesitation, "Stars hang low over the vast plains..."

"You big idiot!"

Tang Ruowei roared, lifted her skirt and kicked Bai Qiuran in the leg, then clutched her leg in pain and squatted down.

"Alright."

Li Jinyao finally relaxed completely.

"It is indeed the Sword Ancestor."

What are you doing here?

Bai Qiuran casually patted Tang Ruowei's head as she squatted on the ground and asked, "I thought the mastermind behind this Cave Abode wouldn't let us acquaintances stick together... I certainly wouldn't if it were me."

"Perhaps his control over the situation inside this Cave Abode is much lower than we imagine?"

Li Jinyao blinked, then smiled and recounted the whole story, along with some of her speculations.

"So that's how it is, multiple spatial displacements?"

Bai Qiuran pondered for a moment.

"I always felt that a powerful being capable of creating Cave Abode of this caliber wouldn't be someone with such low-level interests as Body Seizure."

"I think so too, but it's too early to guess."

Li Jinyao said, "So many years have passed. A person who was once exceptionally talented and gifted might become a cowardly old man. After all, people change."

"Too."

Bai Qiuran looked at the Stone Stele.

"You'll understand when you get to the end... Let's deal with this trial first."

He pulled Tang Ruowei, who was rubbing her legs, to her feet, and the three of them came to the Stone Stele. Sensing their arrival, words composed of blue light quickly appeared on the surface of the Stone Stele.

[Nothing is more joyful than making a new friend; nothing is more sorrowful than parting from someone in life.]

The text disappeared, and then six large characters appeared.

[Fifth (two) (three) Suffering, Separation from Loved Ones.]

"Wow--"

Upon seeing the name of the trial, Bai Qiuran drawled, "This trial is way beyond my capabilities... Ruowei, Miss Li, let me go first."

Seeing that he was intentionally taking the fall for her and Tang Ruowei, Li Jinyao was slightly taken aback, then said, "We naturally trust the strength of Sword Ancestor."

After some interaction, Li Jinyao Bai Qiuran in every aspect except for cultivation level—whether it was intelligence and talent, strength and experience, or mental state and skills.

She knew that even if she and Bai Qiuran were born in the same era, she would definitely be outclassed by Bai Qiuran in every aspect. Therefore, she trusted Bai Qiuran more than she trusted herself. If even Bai Qiuran couldn't overcome this hurdle, then she and Tang Ruowei certainly wouldn't be able to either.

Seeing that Bai Qiuran going to investigate Lei, Tang Ruowei, who had been squatting on the ground sulking, also said something in a soft voice.

"Be careful, Master."

Her words were barely audible, but Bai Qiuran heard them clearly. He smiled, patted Tang Ruowei's head, and then walked forward without looking back.

The so-called Eight Great Sufferings include Separation from Loved Ones, which refers to the pain of parting from relatives and friends. Bai Qiuran was actually hoping in her heart that she could see some old friends from her memories through this trial.

However, when he walked to the Trial Area on the plain behind the Stone Stele, nothing happened.