Inside the Great Hall, everyone fell silent for a moment.
In the Fugui Mirror, among the more than a thousand scenes, no matter if the people were struggling to climb the stairs, lost in illusions and unable to extricate themselves, or being tempted by the illusions to give up, from beginning to end, they all faced forward toward the Jade Staircase of Dengtianti.
Everyone longed to move forward, yet only that glimpse of a blue figure moved against the flow, choosing a path no one else had ever considered.
That flash of blue plummeted rapidly through the clouds, tearing a straight tunnel downward through the sea of mist, like a Qing Bird severing its own wings, or a Qing Fish leaping into the sea.
“Do you think… does she actually know what’s going on?”
“She must have guessed, right? Otherwise, how could she dare? This little girl even kept her eyes open—I’ve never seen such a bold mortal.”
“Never mind mortals, even low-level cultivators who haven’t learned to fly with divine sense wouldn’t dare do this. Think about it—did any of you dare play like this when you were still in the Lianqi Realm?”
“I think, aside from those intent on dying or outright fools, no normal person would dare.”
“This little girl just won a hundred and twenty-five Little Buns from me this morning, all cheerful and lively. I can guarantee she’s not someone with a death wish.”
“Heh, Tian Laokou, you say you don’t care, but you sure remember those hundred and twenty-five Little Buns clearly. She’s not the one seeking death—you must be dying from losing them, right?”
“If she’s not suicidal, nor a fool, then only one possibility remains.”
“But how did she discover it?”
Yun Miao thought she would fall to her death. After all, she had jumped from the Jade Staircase with the resolve to die.
Yet, she hadn’t fallen far before she felt her body lighten, as if some force was gently guiding her in another direction.
She landed once more atop that thick, solid cloud layer, as if it were ground. She was not dead, not even a drop of blood was shed.
Had she returned to the same cloud layer from which she started?
Yun Miao quickly stood up and looked around, discovering that the surrounding scenery was almost exactly as before.
The reason it was only “almost” was because this time, the cloud layer was not connected by just one Jade Staircase—on both sides, a Jade Staircase arched upward, forming a semicircle together with the cloud, both ends disappearing into the mist.
***
At the edge of the cloud sat a female figure composed of wisps of milky-white cloud, legs crossed. Her face was indistinct, without distinct features, yet Yun Miao somehow felt she was being watched intently.
Inside the Great Hall, Sect Master Chang was so startled he yanked out a beard hair. “The Windchant Patriarch has appeared!”
The other Peak Masters and Elders were also shocked. “Is this the Remnant Soul of the Windchant Patriarch?”
Sect Master Chang frowned, wanting to say something, but as the figure in the Fugui Mirror began to speak, he quickly shut his mouth.
The figure’s voice was very soft.
“How many years has it been… The former Xuantian Sect was destroyed, and the current Xuantian Sect is rebuilt upon its ruins.”
“Of all the people coming and going, you’re not the first who couldn’t see through the illusion, nor the first to guess that the Jade Staircase is a circle, but you are the first to dare jump down and test it.”
“Besides the Sect Masters of Xuantian Sect through the ages, you are the first to come here.”
“Heh, the world thinks that as long as you climb to the top of the Jade Staircase, you are close to heaven. Little do they know, the Jade Staircase is a never-ending circle.”
“Those within it can never reach true heaven; no matter which way they walk, they will always return to the starting point in the end.”
A circle?
What circle?
Yun Miao’s eyes swept across the semicircle formed by the two Jade Staircases. Her mind, honed by the age of information overload, rapidly comprehended the meaning of “circle.”
She silently dismissed her earlier thought of protesting against the game’s creators with her own death, and looked calmly at the figure.
So you found me out. That’s right, a clever player thinks just like this—everything is within the player’s grasp!
The figure asked, “Are you not afraid of death?”
Yun Miao replied without hesitation, “No.”
“You are clever, and very brave as well.”
The figure continued, “In the Mortal Realm, those seeking immortality and the Dao are as numerous as carp crossing a river.”
“Yet most people only know that cultivating immortality is good, without knowing what is good about it, or what it is they truly seek from cultivation.”
“You are so clever—have you ever thought about what you truly want from cultivating immortality and seeking the Dao?”
Yun Miao had already guessed she might have triggered a hidden storyline. Seeing that this plot wouldn’t end any time soon, she imitated the figure’s posture and sat cross-legged, shaking her head honestly.
“I’ve never thought about it. I just heard that after joining Xuantian Sect, you get a free Storage Pouch, so I came along.”
The figure: “……You are unexpectedly honest. Very well, let’s put that question aside for now. I’ll ask another: do you know what it is that people cultivate for?”
Yun Miao thought carefully before answering, “People cultivate for immortality, for supreme power—to move mountains, fill seas, and become capable of anything.”
“They cultivate to ascend to the Immortal Realm, to be free of worldly troubles, to escape birth, old age, sickness, death, love, and parting.”
The figure: “Not bad. Then do you know what it is to seek the Dao?”
Yun Miao: “To seek the laws of all things, the ultimate truth of heaven and earth—to find one’s true self.”
“Very well said. Though you are of mortal flesh, you have grasped the true essence of cultivation and Dao Seeking.”
The figure’s voice grew even softer, the cloud energy within her swirling in a strange way.
Yun Miao felt as if the thread-like voice drilled straight into her mind, and the vortex of cloud energy swirling within the figure made her dizzy. A wave of drowsiness quietly crept over her.
The figure said, “Now tell me: what is it you seek through cultivation? Immortality? Power? Or to become an immortal?”
***
In the Great Hall, Ge Yan frowned, “This…”
Sect Master Chang said, “After all, it’s only a Remnant Soul of the Windchant Patriarch—inevitably a bit extreme.”
“But it should just want to hear the girl’s true thoughts, not harm her. Don’t worry, I’m watching here; I definitely won’t let anything happen to her.”
Yet, to everyone’s surprise—even the Remnant Soul itself—the Qingyi Maiden who had been enchanted did not answer immediately.
She sat cross-legged on the cloud, her long blue skirt spread out to cover her lower half.
Her unfocused eyes stared at the misty Remnant Soul ahead, as if she was staring at it, or perhaps at nothing at all, completely lost in her own world.
Time passed, second by second. The Qingyi Maiden remained motionless. If she had been a wildcat before—proud, willful, and unrestrained—now she was a quiet blue lotus blooming atop the clouds.
Sect Master Chang moved the image of the Qingyi Maiden to the center of the Fugui Mirror and amplified its sound.
Just then, one of the images on the mirror flickered and turned into a stream of light before disappearing.
Everyone in the hall looked up toward the Cloudview Platform outside, where a flash of white light appeared.
The black-clad girl they had just seen in the Fugui Mirror materialized out of thin air on the Cloudview Platform. Another flash, and the gray-clad swordsman appeared as well.
The two Xuantian Sect disciples waiting on the Cloudview Platform quickly approached and spoke with them. One of the disciples then led them toward the Great Hall.
With the first and second place finishers of this Recruitment Ceremony entering the hall, everyone’s attention was briefly diverted.
They were about to follow the usual process of competing for talented newcomers, but then the Remnant Soul of the Windchant Patriarch in the mirror spoke again.
“Such willpower… No wonder you could come and go freely within the Wenxin Formation. But the more you are like this, the more curious I become.”
“Tell me—what is it you seek from cultivation? Immortality? Power? Or to become an immortal?”
The soul-stirring voice echoed through the empty Great Hall, and the already-blurry form of the Remnant Soul in the mirror grew even more transparent, as if it would vanish at the slightest breeze.
The Qingyi Maiden stared into the void and shook her head. “None of them. I have no interest in immortality, power, or becoming an immortal.”
Huaxin and her two companions, just entering the hall, paused in their tracks. Instinctively, they looked toward the enormous Bronze Mirror nearly reaching the rafters.
Unfortunately, from their angle, they could only see the mirror’s exquisitely carved back, not the complex scenes on the front.
The leading Xuantian Sect disciple hesitated, but before he could speak, Ge Yan waved her hand at him, and he immediately swallowed his words, quietly leading the two newcomers to the center of the hall.
Huaxin glanced at the Bronze Mirror out of the corner of her eye. Despite the chaotic images, she immediately spotted the central scene and saw Yun Miao seated calmly atop the cloud.
Her brows knitted. That was Yun Miao’s voice just now, but what was going on? Why wasn’t Yun Miao climbing the Jade Staircase, but instead sitting face-to-face with a strange figure?
The figure fell silent for a moment, then suddenly let out a cold laugh.
“None of them? Are you telling me you joined Xuantian Sect just for a mere Storage Pouch? You and I both know that’s impossible. Good child, don’t joke—think carefully… think about what you truly desire.”
The Qingyi Maiden echoed softly, “Think carefully… think carefully…”
Her gaze was unfocused, as if she had fallen into an even deeper state of contemplation.
Not only the Remnant Soul, but at this moment, even the Sect Master, Peak Masters, Elders, and the newly arrived Huaxin trio in the Great Hall were all just as curious about what the Qingyi Maiden would say next.
Among the more than a thousand people knocking on the Immortal Gate in the mirror, there were likely just as many reasons for seeking cultivation: some feared birth, old age, sickness, and death.
Some sought wealth and power, freedom and ease; others wished for revenge or to protect loved ones. But whatever their reasons, in the end, they all boiled down to immortality, power, or becoming an immortal.
So… if someone knocking on the Immortal Gate sought neither immortality, nor power, nor ascension—what could she possibly seek? What else could she desire?