Sitting beside a pond with a beautiful and freely given lotus fairy watching the sunrise, was this really the difficulty of the final round of the first-grade illusory realm?
Li Qiuchen quietly marveled to himself. Lord Luo was truly a despicable creature.
"Husband, let
tell you sothing. My true form is a remarkable treasure."
Ah Lian leaned against Li Qiuchen's side and murmured softly, "Our lineage's ancestor is the legendary Twenty-Four Petal Blue Lotus of the Original Saint, possessing infinite creative and transformative mystery..."
"Your ancestor is rather excessively old, isn't she?"
Why not start from when Pangu split heaven and earth while you're at it?
"None of that is important. What I want to tell you is that when you complete the trial and choose your rewards, you must select the seven-colored lotus flower. It would be of great help for your future cultivation of the Elixir Viscera."
"Or the lotus seed would work as well. The seven-colored lotus seed can dissolve heart demons. It isn't as potent as the lotus flower itself, but when you are out in the world cultivating, you never know when it might co in handy."
Li Qiuchen said with surprise, "You're asking
to eat you?"
"Dream on. How could that possibly be my true form?"
Ah Lian pursed her lips. "What remains here is only a projected image. My true form ascended long ago. The rewards you can obtain after clearing the trial are things I specifically left here. In terms of seniority, who knows how many generations removed they are from ."
"Are you saying you've beco a thousand-year-old demon?"
"Hehehehe. Who knows? I stay here without any sense of how ti passes outside. With your current cultivation, finding my true form would be quite a challenge indeed."
Ah Lian said with a teasing smile, "If you truly can't get
out of your heart, you could always keep the lotus seed and plant it. After absorbing hundreds of years of natural spiritual energy, it might develop a spirit, take human form, and beco a little Ah Lian."
"I have a question."
Li Qiuchen asked suddenly, "When you said I was your first man, that was also a deception, wasn't it? After all, you must have received any number of trial participants in this place..."
"Hahaha. So you actually care about that. Husband is adorable."
Ah Lian found this genuinely delightful.
"Of course there were none. You silly thing. I am simply a part of this illusory realm. Every ti the illusion resets, I am entirely new, with no mory of what ca before. When you open a book to study, do you refuse to read it because other people have read those sa words before?"
"Is that really so?"
Li Qiuchen's eyes flickered.
My ancestor didn't describe it that way.
One of you is lying.
"I have one more question."
"The sky is about to brighten. Can we please talk about sothing light and romantic?"
"This question is perfectly light."
"Go ahead then."
"If a woman drew this illusory realm trial, what would you do?"
Ah Lian stared.
Then stared so more.
"Husband, that is a profoundly thoughtful question."
"So?"
"I honestly don't know. I've never considered it."
Ah Lian twisted her fingers together and said quietly, "There would presumably be a contingency plan."
"What kind of contingency? A wrongfully imprisoned fiancé, a wife dressing as a man to sit the examination on his behalf, getting lost at night and wandering into the manor, only to encounter five n of wildly different backgrounds taking turns drawing her yin energy..."
"Hahahahaha!"
Ah Lian collapsed in laughter, pounding the stone table. "Husband, stop making
laugh, I genuinely cannot... don't think about it too carefully. It's terrifying!"
The reason Li Qiuchen had asked was that Senior Sister Gu Yanzhi had also visited Five Lotus Manor at so point.
Surely she hadn't gone through exactly the sa sequence of events as him. And if she happened to be straightforwardly heterosexual and not interested in that kind of arrangent, the entire script would fall apart.
As they spoke, the sky was already beginning to lighten.
Ah Lian steadied herself with so effort, cleared her throat, and looked at Li Qiuchen.
"Husband, you really are a very interesting person. I would genuinely like to spend more ti with you."
"After the sky brightens, I will no longer rember you. And you will quickly forget ."
"When I think about it that way, there is sothing genuinely sad about it."
Li Qiuchen said seriously, "I won't forget so quickly."
"No, no, it's better for you to forget quickly. This trial exists to temper your Dao Heart. If you stay lost in mories and can't move forward, you won't be able to cultivate with focus."
Ah Lian waved her hands urgently. "I won't keep taking up your ti. I wouldn't want to erode your composure any further. This is far enough for tonight. Getting to talk with you this long has already made
very happy."
"Farewell then, husband."
With that, she beca a stream of flowing light and vanished cleanly before his eyes.
Lines of text appeared.
[You have cleared the First-Grade Illusory Realm: Five Lotus Manor Trial]
[Remaining Composure: 85]
[Illusory Realm Exploration: 91]
[Overall Rating: First Class, Lower]
[Identity verified. This trial result has been recorded in the Northern Frontier Human Boards.]
[Current Cohort Ranking: 1,244,045]
[Based on your overall rating, please select one reward from the following.]
[Available rewards are as follows:]
[1. One five-colored lotus flower]
[2. One five-colored lotus seed]
[3. One pair of matched porcelain wedding dolls]
...
Li Qiuchen's gaze passed over the lotus flower and the lotus seed, and ca to rest on the porcelain dolls at the end of the list.
He hesitated for two seconds, then selected the third option.
Before the dolls had even landed in his hands, he heard Qingqing's exasperated voice from behind him. "Didn't I tell you to choose the lotus flower or the lotus seed? You idiot!"
I knew it!
The exact sa trick doesn't work on
twice!
Li Qiuchen turned around to face Qingqing, who was puffed up with frustration, and smiled. "I knew all along the trial wasn't over, and that you weren't Ah Lian."
"Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. If you arrange them by that order of colors, there should be seven people in this manor. The five of them, plus you and Ah Lian. Ah Lian, like all the others, was a fabrication. Only you are the true one behind all of this."
"Not a five-colored lotus. It was always a seven-colored lotus."
"Wrong wrong wrong!"
Qingqing stamped her foot, shook her head, and started to argue like a child caught cheating.
"You must have known the script in advance. There's no other way you could have figured all of this out. Toying with my feelings like this, don't think I can't make you fail the trial!"
"I didn't know the script. I worked it all out."
"A man's mouth is full of lies. I won't believe you anymore!"
Li Qiuchen said helplessly, "I said from the start that I would ultimately choose you. A man can't go back on his word."
Qingqing gave a cold snort, and her anger imdiately deflated by more than half.
Won needed to be managed exactly like this.
"You said earlier you had three reasons, but only gave one. What were the other two?"
In truth, that had been a gambit at the ti, to verify whether they were sharing information in real ti.
Li Qiuchen naturally could not say that out loud.
"The ancients said, when choosing a wife, choose virtue. Looks and figure co second. Even though you weren't entirely truthful with
from the beginning, you were the one who cared most about my feelings. The others only wanted to tease . Of course I would only choose you."
Qingqing gave another disgruntled sound. "I'll accept that as one reason. What's the other?"
Li Qiuchen smiled. "I am a greedy person by nature. Choosing you is the sa as choosing everyone, isn't it?"
Qingqing's eyes went wide in horror. "Husband, I think I misjudged you entirely. You really do have the nerve to say things that shaless."
"Shall I rephrase that in a lighter and more romantic way?"
"Go ahead. I want to hear how you'd say it."
"Whatever form wife takes, I would love her just the sa."
"Oh..."
Bang. Li Qiuchen was kicked out of the illusory realm and back into reality.
[You have cleared the First-Grade Illusory Realm: Five Lotus Manor Trial]
[Remaining Composure: 81]
[Illusory Realm Exploration: 99]
[Overall Rating: First Class, Upper]
[Identity verified. This trial result has been recorded in the Northern Frontier Human Boards.]
[Current Cohort Ranking: 1,244,045]
[Based on your overall rating, please select three rewards from the following.]
[Available rewards are as follows:]
[1. One seven-colored lotus flower]
[2. One seven-colored lotus seed]
[3. One pair of matched porcelain wedding dolls]
...
Li Qiuchen sat in a daze for a long mont, then let out a long breath and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
Who said this slip was easy?
The benefits were genuinely present, but the difficulty hadn't co down in the slightest.
Matching wits with that little devil had very nearly consud him entirely.
I am not actually good with won. The only reason I've accumulated this much experience is from managing young misses at ho for so long.
That final step almost broke .
Coming back to himself, Li Qiuchen turned his attention to the three rewards now before him.
Not a five-colored lotus, but a seven-colored lotus. Though if you hadn't worked out that final step, you could have scraped through with a First Class Lower rating.
In that scenario you could only select one reward.
If it had still been choose one from three...
Li Qiuchen looked at the pair of small wedding dolls in his hand, their expressions charmingly naive, and couldn't help the corners of his mouth pulling upward.
His choice wasn't going to change.
Immortal herbs and spiritual plants, he had as many as he needed. None of them were as endearing as these little dolls.
The most important thing about illusory realm trials was tempering the Dao Heart. Clearing rewards were just an unexpected bonus. If you lost sight of that and deliberately chased rewards, you had the priorities completely backwards.
Qingqing was so delightful. Pity that a eting like this in the real world was unlikely.
Just as Ah Lian had said. By the ti he ever encountered her true form, who knew how many thousands of years old she would be.
He placed the jade cases containing the lotus flower and seed, along with the two porcelain dolls, into his storage bracelet, then settled his mind, rested a little longer, and finally rose and walked out of the courtyard.
From this mont onward, he could finally cultivate openly and legitimately, as an officially registered cultivator of the Great Chu Empire.
Inside the illusory realm, most of the night had passed. But in reality, the sun had not yet set, and the evening clouds burned with exceptional brilliance.
Master Qin was standing right at the doorway. Seeing Li Qiuchen's state, he gave a small nod and said simply, "Congratulations."
Li Qiuchen straightened his collar, bowed, and said, "Thank you for the master's guidance. Your student is glad to have honored the responsibility. The trial is cleared."
"Your color looks well. No need to rest. Co along. I'll take you to et the head of the academy."
[NEXT CHAPTER]
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