Battle Through the Heavens: Starting with Cao Ying as an apprentice

But Zhu Zhuqing had no time to appreciate any of this; all her attention was focused on fighting the growing pressure.

Level 10, Level 11, ...

With each step forward, the pressure increases.

Sweat trickled down her forehead, soaking her collar.

Her breathing became heavy, and her legs felt as heavy as if they were filled with lead.

By the time they reached the fifteenth step, Zhu Zhuqing's face was as pale as paper, and she swayed unsteadily.

"boom!"

Zhu Zhu knelt on one knee on the stone steps, supporting herself with her hands on the ground, panting heavily.

Sweat dripped onto the bluestone, spreading out dark marks.

"Zhu Qing!" Ye Lingling, who was walking ahead, heard the noise, turned around and saw this scene. Her expression changed drastically, and she turned around to run down.

"Don't go over there!" Ye Ruoxi grabbed her daughter.

"Mother! Zhuqing, she—" Ye Lingling's eyes reddened with anxiety.

“The formation on this mountain path has been activated.” Ye Ruoxi looked at Zhu Zhuqing kneeling on the steps.

"This formation will automatically adjust the pressure according to the climber's physical condition; the higher you go, the greater the pressure. This is a test of the climber's physique."

"But... why don't I feel much?" Ye Lingling asked, puzzled.

She and Zhu Zhuqing were about the same age, both being Soul Masters who had just obtained their first Soul Ring, so there shouldn't have been such a big difference between them.

Ye Ruoxi gently shook her head: "Our Ye family is a family of doctors. You grew up immersed in body-refining medicine, and your physique has long surpassed that of other Soul Masters of the same level."

"But Zhu Zhuqing is different. She doesn't have your advantages, and she is far inferior to you in terms of physical conditioning."

At this point, her gaze towards Zhu Zhuqing became more complicated: "However, this might actually be a good thing for her."

"A good thing? What kind of good thing is this!" Ye Lingling couldn't understand.

"This shows that Miss Yue'er is willing to test her."

Ye Ruoxi said softly, "If Miss doesn't want to see her at all, this formation won't be activated, and she can walk up the mountain as if it were flat ground."

"But now that the formation has been activated, it means that Miss has given her a chance. As for whether she can pass the test and reach the top of the mountain to see Miss..."

She didn't finish her sentence, but the meaning was clear.

Ye Lingling was stunned, then turned to look at Zhu Zhuqing, her eyes filled with worry.

At this moment, Zhu Zhuqing, who was kneeling on the stone steps, slowly raised her head.

Sweat blurred her vision, but her eyes remained unusually clear.

She heard every word Ye Ruoxi said.

test……

Chance……

These two words echoed repeatedly in her mind.

Yes, if the other party doesn't want to see her at all, what good will it do for her to go up the mountain?

Now, this invisible pressure and this arduous mountain path are, in fact, proof of hope.

Is Sword Immortal Douluo watching?

Zhu Zhuqing gritted her teeth, her trembling hands clenched into fists.

Her fingernails dug into her palm, causing a slight stinging pain, but it also made her more alert.

She cannot give up.

The revenge for the Zhu family is still unavenged, and her sister is still waiting for her; she cannot fall here.

"Sister Lingling..." Zhu Zhuqing raised her head and forced a somewhat pale smile at Ye Lingling above her.

"Don't worry about me, I can do it."

The voice was soft, yet unusually firm.

After saying that, she took a deep breath, braced herself with her hands on the ground, and used all her strength to slowly stand up.

Her legs were still trembling, and the pressure was still immense, but her spine remained straight.

She looked up at the cloud-shrouded mountaintop, a flame igniting in her eyes.

Then, she lifted her foot and stepped onto the sixteenth step.

Ye Ruoxi watched this scene with a hint of surprise in her eyes, which quickly turned into a faint appreciation.

She gently patted her daughter's shoulder: "Let's go, we'll wait for her up ahead."

Ye Lingling bit her lip, nodded, and followed her mother uphill, turning back every few steps.

Chapter 305 Resilience; A Test of the Heart in an Illusion!

At the same time, Zhu Zhuqing, who had been gathering strength on the nineteenth step, moved and stepped towards the twentieth step.

The moment Zhu Zhuqing stepped onto the twentieth step, her body felt as if it were crushed by a thousand-pound weight.

The pressure from a Great Soul Master level swept over her back as if it were a physical force, causing her bones to groan under the unbearable weight.

But she gritted her teeth, her hands digging into the cracks in the stone steps, her nails cracking and bleeding, and she managed to hold on.

Then everything went black.

"Did it... fail again...?"

This was her last thought before she lost consciousness.

Before the water curtain, Bai Yue'er held her breath until she saw Zhu Zhuqing really fall down, then she let out a long sigh.

"She held on for a full thirty breaths." She turned to look at Su Baichen, her eyes filled with undisguised admiration.

"Master, this girl's resilience is simply terrifying."

Su Baichen did not reply, but simply raised his hand and gently tapped the air.

A wisp of almost invisible white mist spilled from his fingertips, drifted down the cliff, and disappeared into Zhu Zhuqing's brow.

"Master, what is this...?" Bai Yue'er asked in confusion.

"Illusory Mind and Bewildering Mist".

Su Baichen said calmly, "She can lure her into a dream and construct the most realistic illusion within it. I want to see what kind of person she really is."

"You're still worried about her?" Bai Yue'er asked, puzzled.

Su Baichen remained silent for a moment before finally speaking slowly: "Yue'er, do you know what kind of place the Xingluo Zhu family is?"

Bai Yue'er shook her head.

"It was a cage forged with rules and iron fist."

Su Baichen stared at the unconscious girl in the water curtain with a complicated expression.

"The daughters of the Zhu family are born with only one mission—to assist the princes of the Dai family in their struggle for the throne. Victory means life, defeat means death, or a fate worse than death."

“They were instilled with this belief from a young age, like pickled vegetables that have been preserved to the bone, and they are permeated with the Zhu family’s flavor from the inside out.”

He paused for a moment: "This girl is indeed resilient, but willpower is not the same as true nature."

“I’m afraid she’s been spoiled too much. I’ll teach her all her skills, but in the end, she’ll use those skills to jump back into that cage and drag you down with her.”

Bai Yue'er was stunned, and only then did she understand her master's concerns.

On the water screen, the illusion has begun.

When Zhu Zhu regained consciousness, she found herself lying on a soft bed.

The room was simple and elegant, with clouds and mist swirling outside the window, and the rolling peaks could be vaguely seen.

She sat up and was surprised to find that not only was she unharmed, but her soul power even showed signs of a breakthrough.

"woke up?"

A cool, clear female voice came from the doorway.

Zhu Zhuqing looked up and saw a woman in white standing against the door.

The woman was about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, with an exceptionally beautiful face and an ethereal temperament. Her eyes, in particular, were so clear that they seemed to reflect the hearts of men.

"You...you are the Sword Immortal Douluo?" Zhu Zhuqing hurriedly got out of bed and was about to bow.

"Just call me Master." Bai Yue'er—or rather, Bai Yue'er's mental form playing the role of "Sword Immortal Douluo" in the illusion—slightly raised her hand, and a gentle force supported Zhu Zhuqing.

"You have passed the test. From this day forward, you will be my first personal disciple."

Zhu Zhuqing trembled, and tears welled up instantly.

She knelt down and kowtowed heavily: "Disciple Zhu Zhuqing greets Master!"

The sob in that voice was the release of years of suppressed emotions finally finding a way out, the ecstatic joy of grasping at a straw in a desperate situation, and the relief of a wandering, helpless bird finally returning to its nest.

"They're so easy to fool!"

In reality, Bai Yue'er stared at the water curtain, stomping her foot in anger: "After being crushed like that by the pressure, she woke up completely unharmed, and she didn't suspect anything? There was no one else on the mountain except 'me,' and she didn't ask where Ye Ruoxi and the others went? That silly girl!"

Su Baichen laughed: "It's good to be a little naive. The less guarded you are, the more real the illusion will be. Keep watching."

Time flew by in the illusion.

The images on the water screen changed: Zhu Zhuqing cultivated day after day on Baichen Peak, from level fourteen to level twenty, and then to level thirty.

The "Sword Immortal Douluo" personally hunted for her soul rings and taught her movement techniques and mental cultivation methods.

She studied extremely diligently, often staying up all night, just for her master's simple "acceptable".

She truly regarded this place as her home and "Sword Immortal Douluo" as a motherly support.

In the third year, her master allowed her to go down the mountain to travel.

Soto, Rose Hotel.

As soon as Zhu Zhuqing entered the city, she heard that familiar name—Dai Mubai.