The mounted Lin Ke wore shattered Sect Master Armor and held the remaining half of a Tang-Style Horizontal Saber.
His eyes were pitch-black, without a trace of white, and the corners of his mouth slowly drooped as though splitting open.
Like a phantom, he closed in on Lin Ke almost instantly, reached out, and clamped a hand around his neck.
"Do you know where this is?"
Lin Ke had intended to resist, but the instant he reached out, he discovered there was not a trace of spiritual qi within him. He was actually a mortal.
The phantomlike, black-eyed Lin Ke wore a savage expression, veins bulging on his forehead.
"Why? Why are you so useless?"
"The entire Sect was slaughtered by the Illusionless Gu Sect. How many people did you save tonight?"
"One? Two?"
"You! You didn't save a single one!"
Lin Ke's feet had already left the ground. His throat felt dry and painful, his heartbeat quickened, and he struggled to breathe.
In the grip of the black-eyed Lin Ke opposite him, he was like an ant about to be killed outright.
He knew this was the deepest fear within his heart, and also the first trial the Heart-Testing Mirror had set for him.
What he feared had never been that he was not strong enough, or that he would be powerless when disaster struck.
What he truly feared was failing to give his all to cultivation before disaster struck, leaving himself with regrets.
"It's all your fault! You're too weak!"
"You hold countless secret treasures and possess countless spell arts, yet you can't even protect those close to you. What use is your cultivation?"
"What use is getting stronger? Your talent is too poor, your cultivation too slow. You don't work hard enough. You don't deserve to live