I don't want to be trained by my senior sister!

After leaving the Phoenix Palace and returning to the relatively normal palace passage, Ning Qian secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

The heat on my face finally subsided a little.

But the bottle of pills and jade slip hidden in his sleeve still burned him like a branding iron.

.......

The two walked towards what appeared to be the main hall.

quickened my pace, passed through several dilapidated archways, and the most magnificent Xuanli Main Hall reappeared in my sight.

Pushing open the half-closed palace door, a strong stench of blood assaulted the senses.

The hall was still dimly lit, but several corpses lay scattered on the ground, and blood flowed freely on the jade slabs, not yet congealed.

Fang Xuan's eyes narrowed slightly.

These corpses... are the group that was following Lu Mingxuan earlier.

They were all extraordinary disciples; almost all of them were among the best of the younger generation in their respective peaks, and at least all were in the late Foundation Establishment stage.

And here, a half-step Void Core cultivator also died.

Their deaths took different forms, but the wounds were mostly sword or knife wounds, clearly caused by fierce fighting between cultivators.

Fang Xuan frowned, a string of question marks popping into his mind.

Isn't this script wrong?

In the early stages of exploring secret realms, even if there are conflicts, they are mostly hidden sabotage and snatching of treasures.

How can there be such a brutal, large-scale infighting right from the start? And those who died were all elite talents from the direct lineage.

If they leave the secret realm, won't the higher-ups of the Qingyun Sect go crazy? There will be a complete talent gap among the younger generation.

Is this how the plot is supposed to go?

He subconsciously looked towards the end of the main hall.

The enormous dragon throne still stands on the high platform, and the skeleton draped in tattered finery still sits on it.

His empty eye sockets seemed to be silently mocking the bloodshed and chaos below.

The moment Fang Xuan's gaze fell upon the skeleton—

The familiar, massive mental fluctuations swept over us once again.

Fang Xuan felt the scene before him changing, and when it became clear again, he found himself in a strange, pure white space.

Ning Qian stood beside him, equally wary.

A majestic voice resounded directly in their minds, speaking in an ancient language, yet they could inexplicably understand its meaning:

[The Xuanli Trial begins.]

This hall is the training ground.

[The rule is singular: Only one person can inherit the Emperor's path and ascend to heaven; all others are merely provisions.]

[Slay the enemy, seize their vital energy and cultivation to strengthen yourself; the ultimate survivor will inherit the Xuanli Emperor's lineage and wield the path of the Son of Heaven!]

As the sound faded, the illusion shattered.

The two returned to the blood-soaked hall.

It turned out to be the case.

This entire Xuanli Palace is not a treasure vault, but a huge breeding ground for Gu poison.

A death trial designed to select so-called emperors.

Everyone who entered the main hall was forcibly informed of the rules.

Only one person can escape alive, but by killing the others, one can plunder their cultivation and life force to quickly become stronger.

This is typical of novels; authors often add unnecessary details when they're stuck, so it's understandable.

So it's no wonder that these elite disciples of the Qingyun Sect would kill each other like madmen.

Under the extreme temptation of being able to kill and escalate the fear that only one person can survive.

Fellowship and sect rules are of little use.

.......

The hall was unusually quiet at the moment, with only the stench of blood filling the air.

The survivors are hiding somewhere, perhaps licking their wounds in secret, or perhaps searching for their next prey.

"careful."

Ning Qian noticed the hidden figure and whispered a warning.

Her cool gaze swept across every dark corner of the hall, subtly shielding Fang Xuan behind her in a more secluded spot.

Just then.

"Die!!"

A sharp, crimson sword aura slashed straight at the back of Fang Xuan's head.

The attackers had clearly planned this for a long time, and their timing was impeccable, catching the two of them just as they were recovering from the illusion and their vigilance had relaxed slightly.

But Fang Xuan simply took a half-step to the side with an extremely casual step.

"boom!"

The crimson sword energy grazed past the hem of his clothes and slashed fiercely at a stone pillar behind where he had been standing, sending stone chips flying and leaving a deep sword mark.

Fang Xuan turned around and looked at the attacker.

That was a disciple who had originally followed behind Lu Mingxuan. Now, his eyes were bloodshot and his face was filled with an excited smile.

The spiritual energy around him fluctuated extremely erratically, yet it was unusually powerful.

He had already reached the mid-stage of the Void Core realm, but his spiritual power was extremely weak, clearly indicating that he had forcibly raised it through killing and plundering.

"Want to chat?" Fang Xuan asked indifferently.

"Talk? Hahaha!" The disciple laughed wildly, his voice hoarse. "Talk about how to kill you? If I kill you, I can advance another level!"

"This power...this power is too wonderful! I'm going to kill everyone! I'm going to become a Golden Core cultivator! Hahaha!"

Fang Xuan frowned. He had originally intended to capture someone alive to ask about the situation, such as where Lu Mingxuan was.

Faced with the opponent's frenzied slashes of sword energy, he did not completely dodge this time.

Instead, he pointed his fingers like a sword, unleashing a concentrated burst of spiritual energy that struck first, cutting into the opponent's weak point and attempting to knock away his weapon.

But the madman neither dodged nor avoided, and even disregarded his own weaknesses, grinning as he poured more spiritual power into the sword, as if he were ready to perish together with the enemy.

"laugh!"

Fang Xuan's spiritual power deflected the opponent's main sword.

However, in order to leave him alive, he was still accidentally caught by the aftershock of the other party's sword energy, which cut a shallow gash on his face, and a drop of blood seeped out.

"We can't communicate anymore..." Fang Xuan shook his head, preparing to take drastic measures to eliminate this trouble directly.

Ning Qianze's pupils constricted as she watched the beads of blood sliding down Fang Xuan's face, and she instinctively clenched her fists...

An extremely cold sword intent descended instantly.

"Puff puff puff puff—!"

The disciple, who was laughing wildly and preparing to pounce again at the mid-stage of the Void Core realm, was instantly sent flying backward.

The next second, his arms and legs separated from his torso.

He didn't even have time to scream before he became a bald, human stump and collapsed to the ground with a thud.

Only the torso and head remained writhing, and the eyes quickly dimmed.

Fang Xuan: "!!!"

Wardfa?!

He turned to look at Ning Qian beside him.

Ning Qiancai slowly lowered her fingers, her cold face expressionless.

She simply turned her gaze to Fang Xuan, focusing on the wound on his face caused by the sword energy.

Her brows furrowed, and then she reached out and wiped away the spilled blood with her fingertips.

"Are you alright?" she asked, her voice still cold.

Fang Xuan swallowed unconsciously.

He felt... a bit chilly all over.

This doesn't make sense...

Senior sister... was she really this ruthless?

He knew Ning Qian would be a ruthless person in the future, but that would only be after her rebirth, when she began to refine countless living beings.

Wait a moment......

No... no...

Fang Xuan's mind raced, connecting previously overlooked details.

From the initial encounter with that eerie Black Tai Sui, to Shen Chen suddenly ordering them to descend the mountain ahead of schedule to deal with the evil cultivators, and then to Ning Qian's sword intent casually shattering space and directly entering the secret realm.

And now, in the secret realm, there's this imperial trial that clearly doesn't fit the plot, and Ning Qian's ruthless actions that completely contradict the "weak female lead in an early, abusive story" trope...

The pace of this development, the direction the plot is taking...

If this were a novel, the current plot would be...

Ning Qian unexpectedly entered this cruel trial and, through some means, killed all the young elites of the Qingyun Sect, causing her strength to skyrocket.

And then...

He should be forced or willing to betray the Qingyun Sect and be hunted down by the so-called righteous sects of the world.

He will continue to grow stronger in desperate situations, eventually refining all living beings, overthrowing the Qingyun Sect, and ascending to the upper realm.

This is just...

Fang Xuan gasped.

Could it be... his seemingly aloof and fragile, occasionally shy, senior sister who's a fantastic cook...?

It wasn't the innocent, vulnerable girl from the first playthrough that he thought was "being tortured and waiting to be saved."

Instead, she's a... reborn female protagonist who has already died once, carrying maxed-out memories and hatred, and returns for revenge?

Impossible... He must be overthinking it.

Although he was a bit ruthless and strong.

It's possible he misremembered; otherwise, if she really was a reborn, corrupted senior sister, then she would have been saved.

But after he was saved, the seemingly gentle and delicate senior sister who should have been his wife turned into a wicked and possessive senior sister who forcibly took him in. The difference is too great.

Impossible, impossible. If he had really been reborn, he would have been killed with a single blow long ago. How could he still be alive now?

.......