Reaching the Summit of the Questioning Heart Road

However, Song Zhizhi did not know that the original novel had only glossed over the part where the heroine became a disciple of the Sword Sect. She only knew that Song Miaomiao was the most outstanding new disciple of this cohort and would later be accepted by Sword Venerable Changyu of the Sword Sect as his last disciple.

At this moment, Song Zhizhi looked around, found a level corner that did not block the way, took bedding from her storage pouch, spread it on the ground, then lay down and covered herself with a small blanket. In less than five seconds, she was fast asleep.

Before the square, everyone fell silent for a moment.

Someone asked in confusion, "What is she doing?"

Someone said in shock, "She's actually sleeping on the Questioning Heart Road! How can she even sleep?"

But even more people did not think highly of Song Zhizhi's actions. After all, back then, they had climbed the Questioning Heart Road step by step, enduring countless hardships before entering the Sword Sect.

"Does she think climbing six hundred steps in a day is already something extraordinary? She should know that the difficulty of the last four hundred steps is worlds apart from the first six hundred. I dare bet she definitely won't finish the remaining four hundred steps tomorrow."

"I heard that Sword Venerable Mingxiao took nearly twenty hours to climb the Questioning Heart Road back then. No one has broken that record to this day. She has now wasted an entire night, so she definitely won't make it up."

In the main hall of the main peak, Sword Venerable Mingxiao had just finished reporting the results of the handling of the sea demon beast tide in Extreme Sea City to the sect leader when he heard the noisy discussion from the distant square.

Someone was actually sleeping on the Questioning Heart Road during this year's selection assembly? This was truly unprecedented since the sect's founding.

Sword Venerable Mingxiao casually glanced toward the Water Mirror, and a small face buried in soft bedding, fair with a rosy flush and sleeping soundly, abruptly entered his sight.

Sword Venerable Mingxiao stopped in his tracks, his heart jolting. It was her?

Why had she come to the Sword Sect? Had she come looking for him?

Reaching the Summit of the Questioning Heart Road

Song Zhizhi knew nothing of what was happening outside, much less that the person she had painstakingly tried to avoid was now watching her every move from behind the Water Mirror.

If she had known, she probably would have fled overnight.

By the latter half of the night, people began passing Song Zhizhi one after another, and everyone's attention shifted away from her.

"The woman currently in first place has a resolute gaze and has already passed seven hundred steps. She looks like promising material for sword cultivation."

"The one in second place is not bad either. Though slower than the first, her progress far surpasses everyone else's..."

On Red Cloud Peak, Sword Venerable Mingxiao sat on the bed in his chamber. For once, he had not entered meditation to cultivate. Instead, he condensed a Water Mirror and watched Song Zhizhi's peaceful sleeping face within it, lost in thought.

No one knew what he was thinking. He simply watched her all night. Cultivators could replace sleep with seated meditation; since he had begun cultivating, this was one of the few nights he had not spent cultivating or fighting.

At dawn, Song Zhizhi opened her eyes in the Water Mirror. Her newly awakened eyes were veiled in mist, and red marks from the bedding pressed against her cheeks. She stretched lazily, and her wide sleeve slipped down, exposing a stretch of snow-white arm. Suddenly, an image flashed through Sword Venerable Mingxiao's mind: inside a crude wooden hut, slender fair wrists clung to a back, pale fingertips sinking into firm muscles, turning faintly white from exertion.

As if scalded, Sword Venerable Mingxiao looked away.

That bedding was too hard. It had left marks on her face.

Her sleeves were too wide. They would be inconvenient when she practiced swordsmanship in the future.

She had run away that day, yet now she had appeared at the Sword Sect. Had she come to find him?

Whom should he invite to the bond-forming ceremony?

Chaotic thoughts churned through Sword Venerable Mingxiao's mind. With a sweep of his sleeve, he dispersed the Water Mirror, attempting to calm himself through cultivation and drive away the disorderly distractions.

Song Zhizhi had no idea what was happening on Red Cloud Peak, nor did she know of someone's inner struggle. She put away her bedding, cast a Cleansing Spell on herself, swallowed a Fasting Pill, and continued climbing.

At the seven hundredth step, Song Zhizhi felt that the illusion before her had become far more realistic. This time, she was no longer merely an observer—she had become a part of the illusion.

And this illusion was set in the modern world.

A bright, tidy classroom. On the blackboard were written the words "National Unified Examination for Admissions to General Institutions of Higher Education," while the broadcast announced that fifteen minutes remained before papers had to be handed in. This was—the National College Entrance Examination hall!

For one brief moment, Song Zhizhi almost forgot the cultivation world and the Questioning Heart Road. She only remembered that she was eighteen this year and taking the National College Entrance Examination. But when she picked up her pen and saw that the answer sheet was completely blank, she suddenly came to her senses—

She was an arts student. Even if she did not know a single answer, her answer sheet could not possibly be blank. Even if she had to make things up, she would have filled the entire sheet.

Song Zhizhi put down her pen and rose from her seat. The illusion shattered, and she continued upward.

The illusion at the eight hundredth step still failed to trap Song Zhizhi. After two hours, she stepped onto the nine hundredth step.

When her figure appeared in the Water Mirror, everyone turned toward her in astonishment.

"It's her—the one who slept on the Questioning Heart Road!"

"How did she catch up so quickly? How long has it been? Excluding the time she spent sleeping, she took less than twelve hours to climb here, didn't she?"

"The quality of this year's new disciples seems higher than in previous years."

In the cultivation world, strength was revered above all. If Song Zhizhi could successfully reach the summit in the end, they would have nothing but admiration for her and would no longer criticize her for sleeping on the Questioning Heart Road.

The nine hundredth step contained the hardest illusion to see through on the entire Questioning Heart Road.

This trial tested human nature.

Song Zhizhi did not know this. The moment she stepped onto the nine hundredth stair, a strand of divine sense swept through her, and she could not help but grow dazed.

When Song Zhizhi came back to herself, confusion filled her eyes. Who am I? Where am I? What am I supposed to do?

She looked around and discovered that she was standing in a desolate forest. The sky was gloomy, bolts of lightning streaked across it, and thunder rumbled endlessly in her ears.

"Kill her!" The clash of weapons sounded from the distance, startling Song Zhizhi.

She raised her eyes toward the source of the sound and saw several people charging at her with sharp blades in hand. Their eyes were bloodshot, and their killing intent was chilling, as though they had gone mad from cultivation deviation. As they chased in her direction, they shouted:

Rankings

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