Who knew how long had passed? Perhaps a day, perhaps a month.
An overwhelming weariness hung over Mu Qian's heart like a vast, dark cloud.
Perhaps it was an illusion, but he felt the light from the ancient blue-gold lamps in the corridor growing more and more dazzling. Even with his eyes closed, it pierced through his eyelids, and a sea of blue and gold swallowed his vision.
Eventually, Mu Qian even felt countless dark figures appear around him, some doubling over with laughter, others jeering at him...
Yet they seemed to have only one thing to say: they urged him to give up.
Fear and anxiety had completely filled Mu Qian's heart. The air had grown even thinner, and he desperately wanted to follow the shadows' advice and take great, careless gulps of breath.
"Stop holding on. Give up, and this dream will end. You'll return to your past life, to a life with a house and a car. Wouldn't that be great?"
"Honestly, Qian'er, I envy you. Find yourself a girlfriend, and your life will be set, won't it?"
In a daze, Mu Qian seemed to see his childhood friend from his past life smiling and beckoning to him.
"Go to hell! What's a house and a car compared to real strength? Besides, are there not enough beauties here?" Mu Qian said with a laugh.
"When you watched anime, you claimed you had a ton of wives. Just wait—I'll win over every girl in Douluo, and you'll be green with envy."
They had not seen each other in six years, but seeing that familiar smiling face still made him want to boast and shoot the breeze.
"Son, come home. Your mom and dad are waiting for you." A familiar voice came from behind him.
Mu Qian whipped around, excitement and longing showing in his eyes.
"Mom..." His voice trembled. The last time he had seen his mother was when he was ten, in his previous life.
Back then, he had watched his parents wave to him from a distance. Just out of school, he had hurried toward his safe haven.
But the next moment, a runaway freight truck had careened toward the low house by the roadside...
"No!"
Mu Qian's anguished roar rang out on the road, and the anger and terror in his heart could no longer be restrained.
Remembering the scene he had witnessed with his own eyes in his previous life, he could not stop himself from sprinting toward the figures of his parents.
But that short distance seemed to span countless stretches of time and space. No matter how hard he chased them, he could not touch even the faintest wisp of that dreamlike illusion.
"No. Dad is already gone. There won't be a second time." The bloody memories resurfaced before him, bringing a sliver of clarity back to Mu Qian's mind.
There was no starting life over. What had passed could never be recovered.
"With a life like yours, you'd better wake up. Stop dreaming about being a hero and figure out how you're going to earn your living tomorrow."
The scene before his eyes changed once more, and a fat man appeared in front of him.
It was his supervisor at the company after he graduated, a man who loved ordering new hires around.
"Is my brilliant life, the one that hasn't even begun, really going to end like this?"
"No! I refuse to accept it!"
"Douluo Continent—what an incredible world! I haven't even seen it yet, so all of you can get lost!"
His impatience and anger faded. So did his sorrow and heartache.
In that moment, Mu Qian's heart grew calm.
Relying on what little awareness he had left, he forcibly shut out all his fear and unease.
That was right. He had already lost enough. What difference would it make if he lost more?
Even if the worst came to pass, it would only have been one long dream, gone in the end.
One by one, the people he had once known appeared in his mind, only for him to tear them apart with his bare hands.
And so, he drifted on in a daze for an unknown length of time.
Suddenly, all the ancient blue-gold lamps began to flicker. Countless rays of light gathered toward Mu Qian's body, and a vast surge of energy instantly filled the entire corridor.
At the same time, Mu Qian's eyes flew open. With a majestic gaze that seemed not to belong to him, he let out a dragon's roar that shook the heavens.
"Roar!"
The powerful sound waves pierced through the Divine Temple and across boundless space, echoing over the Far North.
Countless Spirit Beasts prostrated themselves on the ground. Regardless of their cultivation, every one of them paled beneath that terrifying pressure.
Outside the Divine Temple, Snow Maiden's eyes brimmed with excitement. Fighting down the urge to kneel that weighed on her as well, she made her way to the entrance.
In truth, the Divine Temple's doors had never been closed.
That barrier had existed only in Mu Qian's heart.
"It worked. Now he needs me." For the first time, a change appeared on Snow Maiden's eternally cold, stony face.
She seemed a little nervous, yet a little expectant. At some point, a blush had spread across her face.
"Congratulations. You have passed the First Trial of the Ancestor God: Emotions."
"Trial difficulty: Low."
"When you learn to control your emotions in dire straits, you will have mastered the first step on the path to the pinnacle."
"Evaluation: 70 points. Though you found yourself again at the final moment, you are still far from mastering your emotions completely. Keep working hard."
"Reward: Twin Martial Souls, Innate Level 20 Spirit Power."
As these words suddenly rang through Mu Qian's mind, his last thread of awareness finally relaxed.
The violent Soul Power surging from his lower abdomen sent him into a faint at once.
Even unconscious, Mu Qian's expression kept changing. At times he looked grave, at times he struggled, and at last his face twisted as if he were enduring unbearable pain.
His once-small body was changing, too. It was as if time had been put into fast-forward: he swiftly grew into a young man in his twenties, then began to grow younger again. Afterward, he started growing rapidly once more, finally settling, for the time being, into the form of an eighteen-year-old.
It seemed his body could not withstand this immense energy...
Snow Maiden's figure appeared beside Mu Qian in the corridor.
By then, his beast-hide robe had long since been reduced to dust by the violent energy, leaving him completely exposed.
Snow Maiden's face was flushed. She gazed at Mu Qian with her lips lightly pressed together, her jade hand tracing his handsome features.
In his adult form, he was just as striking, with less of the boyishness and more of a man's strength.
Snow Maiden etched his appearance deep into her heart, looking at him as the man she would follow for the rest of her life. Controlling her Soul Power, she slowly slipped off her clothes.
Her exquisite face showed no hesitation. She had no right to choose, but she did not resist this outcome.
Memories of their time together over the past few years surfaced in her mind. In her long life, it seemed she had only truly known happiness after Mu Qian came along.
Snow Maiden's crystalline body slowly nestled against Mu Qian's chest, her arms naturally wrapping around his waist.
"I've waited hundreds of thousands of years for this moment."
"The Old Master once said that every trial requires the bond of an emotional entanglement—two people bound to each other, forming the final test."
"You... will surely reach that stage one day, won't you?"
"Ten trials require ten candidates, but including me, I've found only three suitable ones."
"Still, that woman should count as one, shouldn't she?"
As she spoke, Snow Maiden could not help looking toward the south of Douluo Continent.
That was where the true paradise of Spirit Beasts lay...
Before you continue