You're a Good Valley...

"Child, make your choice! Choose correctly, and you pass! Choose incorrectly, and you enter a deep adventure!" The calm voice carried a hint of teasing.

Zheng Li was speechless.

Damn! Tang Bohu Picks Qiuxiang? No, it was Zheng Li Picks Xiao Nai!

The thing was, when Tang Bohu made his pick, there weren't nearly this many "Qiuxiangs"!

"Don't you think this is a little unfair? Never mind that both Xiao Nai's and my adventure difficulties were reduced after I beat that uncle earlier. Just look at the picture you showed me. It only had two little figures on it! Doesn't that mean I'm supposed to choose between two?"

Zheng Li argued with the Valley of Love and Emotion, staring at the hundred identical "Xiao Nais" before him.

There was no way this was right!

The calm voice explained, "The difficulty was reduced. Before it was lowered, there would have been twice as many! The picture doesn't represent what the challenge is about! Make your choice within three minutes, or you'll go straight into a deep adventure!"

"Three minutes? Holy crap!"

Even Tang Bohu had been given the time it took to burn a stick of incense!

What a rip-off!

"There are less than three minutes left, child. Hurry up."

Zheng Li: "..."

Since he couldn't fight back, was all he could do to "enjoy" it? Helpless, Zheng Li turned to look at the hundred "Xiao Nais" in front of him.

At that moment, all one hundred Xiao Nais were staring at him with emotionless eyes...

"Hiss..."

Zheng Li took one look, and every hair on his body stood on end. This was... terrifying...

He could barely stand having a single Meng Xiaonai look at him like that, let alone a hundred "Meng Xiaonais"!

Imagine a hundred identical girlfriends staring at you. How would that feel? That was exactly how Zheng Li felt.

Was he in the Valley of Love and Emotion, or watching a horror movie?

Inside the bubble, Wang Xin'er felt as if her eyes were going blurry, and she was a little dazed. She murmured, "So many pretty big sisters..."

She even missed the word "lover" in the calm voice's explanation.

None of the hundred "Xiao Nais" said a word.

They were probably forbidden to speak. Even their movements were identical.

Second by second, time passed.

Zheng Li frowned deeply. Honestly, he couldn't tell.

The Valley of Love and Emotion's simulations were practically bugged! Their expressions, their little details, even their scent were all identical.

He couldn't sense anything through the connection between their martial souls, either.

"That shouldn't be..."

From his earlier experience, Zheng Li knew the Valley of Love and Emotion couldn't sever his connection with Xiao Nai.

"One minute left," the calm voice reminded him.

"So fast..." Zheng Li stared at one of the "Xiao Nais." After thinking for a moment, he closed his eyes and focused on the connection between himself and Xiao Nai. Trying to identify them one by one wasn't a good idea.

There wasn't enough time for that, anyway!

Half a minute passed, then another twenty seconds. With three seconds left, Zheng Li suddenly opened his eyes and looked up. "None of these hundred is Xiao Nai!"

"Are you certain?" the calm voice asked.

"Certain!" Zheng Li nodded.

The connection had definitely weakened, as if something was interfering with it, but it hadn't been severed! For an instant, he'd still sensed it.

That was how he'd been sure.

The result was the same, too. He was starting to wonder if the Valley of Love and Emotion had watched the movie Tang Bohu Picks Qiuxiang.

After hearing Zheng Li's answer, the calm voice fell silent for a moment. Then it said, "Correct. Round two: adventure complete. Why did you choose that answer?"

Zheng Li smiled and shook his head. "I didn't guess. I don't know what method you used, but you didn't completely sever our connection."

"...You and your Martial Soul Lover are rather unusual," the calm voice said after a pause.

What she'd actually meant to say was, "Your martial soul is rather unusual."

But since they were partners, she couldn't exactly say, "Your martial soul, your martial soul."

Zheng Li smiled but said nothing.

The hundred "Meng Xiaonais" then vanished into golden light, and Zheng Li was wrapped in a bubble once again.

In the Gold and Silver Space, a figure appeared amid the hazy, two-colored light. Unlike the indistinct figure from before, this one was clearly visible. It was Xiao Nai.

She had watched Zheng Li's entire adventure from here. After he was enveloped in the bubble, she had disappeared and returned to the Transparent Space.

The wheel spun.

The golden, clock-hand-shaped light didn't move. Now that Xiao Nai was alone, it wasn't needed.

When the wheel stopped, Xiao Nai frowned at the "picture."

It showed a cloud, a lustrous, glass-colored cloud. It was the only colorful image among the wheel's six pictures.

It was obviously a cloud, but what could it represent?

At that moment, the calm voice explained, "The challenge is an illusion! You'll experience an illusion. Pass it, and you'll clear round two. Fail, and you'll enter a deep adventure and suffer mental injury! Your previous victory has weakened the penalty."

"Oh, so it's an illusion." Xiao Nai's blue eyes remained utterly calm. She even seemed to ignore the words "suffer mental injury." "Let's begin!"

The calm voice: "..."

Then it said nothing more. A golden and silver light appeared around Xiao Nai, dreamlike and distorted. Her emotionless eyes instantly went vacant.

Clearly, she had been pulled into the illusion.

Zheng Li looked deeply worried. An illusion... They had never experienced anything like this before. He didn't know whether Xiao Nai could pass.

And if she failed, she would suffer mental injury!

At that moment, inside the illusion.

"Has it not started yet?" Xiao Nai murmured.

"The adventure begins."

The calm voice spoke, and the same two-colored light enveloped Xiao Nai inside the illusion. This time, however, she noticed something.

Then the Xiao Nai inside the illusion entered another layer of illusion.

In a forest, a fiery-red giant python more than twenty meters long flicked its tongue. In front of it stood "Zheng Li."

"Zheng Li" was drenched in cold sweat. He shouted, "Xiao Nai, I'll hold it off! Run!"

Xiao Nai: "..."

Was it really that simple?

It seemed very real, but couldn't she tell it was an illusion just from the change in scenery?

Would realizing it was an illusion break it? No.

"This isn't quite the kind of illusion I imagined," Xiao Nai muttered. "How am I supposed to pass?"

The python? Zheng Li? After thinking for a moment, Xiao Nai looked at the two elements in the illusion.

"Do I have to kill one of them?"

The fake "Zheng Li" spoke again, urging her anxiously, "Xiao Nai, hurry up and go! What are you standing there for?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the python lowered its head and slammed into "Zheng Li," sending him flying.

Though it was an illusion, Xiao Nai's heart still tightened. She went over to check "Zheng Li's" injuries. His chest had caved in, and a scorching force was eating away at his body.

Xiao Nai thought that if this were really Zheng Li... she would definitely feel heartbroken.

"Hmm? Is that really Zheng Li?"

"I understand..."

Xiao Nai suddenly seemed to realize something.

Then...

She kicked "Zheng Li" toward the python's mouth.

The illusion's "Zheng Li" even had a pretty convincing expression. The pain on his face turned into bewilderment.

Chapter forty-nine: You're a good valley...

Xiao Nai had no idea that Zheng Li and Wang Xin'er could see everything she experienced in the illusion from the Transparent Space.

When they saw Xiao Nai kick the illusion's "Zheng Li," they were both speechless...

After a moment, Zheng Li said, "Well done, Xiao Nai! Right, that isn't the real me! Beat him to death!"

The calm voice: "..."

He had no idea that she hadn't shown them the double-layered illusion. By the time Zheng Li and Wang Xin'er saw it, the scene was already in the forest.

Zheng Li had thought that the illusion would break as soon as "Zheng Li" died. Who would have guessed...

"?!"

"Holy crap! Xiao Nai, have you lost your mind?!"

In the image, Xiao Nai then charged straight into the python's mouth herself.

The python didn't hesitate. Its gaping jaws plunged downward and swallowed Xiao Nai and the illusion's "Zheng Li."

Then the illusion shattered.

Zheng Li: "..."

Had his guess been wrong?

The first layer of the illusion.

In the false Transparent Space, Xiao Nai opened her eyes.

The calm voice immediately spoke. "Facing danger and sharing life and death. You've cleared round two."

Xiao Nai's expression remained calm. "No, you're wrong. That wasn't sharing life and death. The 'him' in the illusion wasn't him. I only did it to pass."

"You're right. But not everyone can find a way to pass. In the past, some people chose the illusion and simply abandoned their lovers to escape," the calm voice said slowly.

Suddenly, Xiao Nai realized that one of the bubbles was missing.

"Where's Xiao Li?"

"He insulted the Valley and was punished by being sent into a deep adventure!" the calm voice explained evenly.

"Impossible!" Xiao Nai said calmly. That was right—her first reaction was that it couldn't be true.

Xiao Li wouldn't be so reckless.

"Why is it impossible? You should know that when you entered the illusion, your true body was pulled into it, not just your consciousness. Zheng Li and the others saw what you experienced in the illusion as an image."

"If you failed the illusion, you would suffer mental injury and enter a deep adventure. When you kicked the illusion's 'Zheng Li' toward the python, he thought you'd succeeded. He thought the illusion was about figuring out which one was your lover and killing the fake. Who knew you'd charge into the python's mouth too? To Zheng Li, that meant you'd failed. You'd suffer mental injury and enter a deep adventure. What do you think he'd do?"

The calm voice faded as she finished explaining, making it sound as if she were angry.

Xiao Nai lost her composure when she heard this. "Stupid Xiao Li!"

"Send me to him! I want to be with Xiao Li!"

Without hesitation, Xiao Nai called out toward the top of the Transparent Space.

"Are you sure? You've already cleared round two, and the chance of dying in a deep adventure..."

"I said to send me to Xiao Li!" Xiao Nai waved a hand, cutting off the calm voice.

"Since you insist, the Valley will grant your wish."

A flash of golden and silver light, and Xiao Nai disappeared.