Amid swirling clouds and mist lay the Midnight Secret Realm, removed from the mortal world.
Ancient bluestone steps stretched into unknown depths, their atmosphere ethereal enough to make anyone who set foot on them wonder whether reaching the end would let them attain enlightenment and ascend.
Yet its only visitor in recent decades—
the black-haired young man walking behind on the mountain path was completely dumbfounded.
The moment Li Ze said in puzzlement, "Midnight doesn't have this kind of trial," Fang Ran let out a thunderstruck roar in his heart.
"Ah, there's no trial!? No, wait. Isn't there supposed to be some sort of trial to observe an outsider's character and conduct, to see whether they're qualified!? There should be, right? According to the usual formula, there should be, right?"
"A place like Midnight, some kind of secluded sect, should at least have rules for testing strength, shouldn't it!?"
Faced with Fang Ran's astonished questioning, Li Ze explained somewhat baffledly:
"Qualified... In the end, anyone unqualified and unrecognized couldn't even come here. Being able to enter Midnight already says a great deal."
"As for testing strength, Midnight isn't some Examination Hall. If there really were such rules, it would seem rather discourteous."
Fang Ran: "..."
Damn it, that made so much sense.
"Not to mention that anyone able to come here is bound to have exceptional strength and status. Hm? Fang Ran, what's wrong?"
"Nothing. The area of my psychological shadow is just a little too big. Could you help me calculate it?"
Thinking about how, until just now, he had spent five or six hours catching birds in the sky, fishing in the water, plucking fur and picking fruit without refusing anything—
believing it was Midnight's trial for outsiders, eagerly throwing himself into it out of novelty and enjoying