Chapter 503: Start of the Trial
"Look, something is happening." Someone screamed and everyone turned to the front.
As everyone watched, the golden light from the nine gates, converged and formed a portal.
Soon after, two identity jades flew into the portal and disappeared.
"Azhen..." Jiang Yue suddenly called.
"Don’t resist." Yu Nianzhen said.
When the identity jades flew into the portal, a tugging force appeared on their bodies.
The force felt like gravity but rather than pull them towards the ground, it was pulling them towards the portal.
"Azhen, you have to take care of yourself."
"You too." Yu Nianzhen said and rubbed Jiang Yue’s hair.
A moment later, two people were forcibly pulled into the portal before the golden light suddenly disappeared.
"The golden light has disappeared and we don’t know where they have been teleported to. How will we know if they have passed or failed the nine hearts trial?" One of the watching spectators asked.
"I don’t know." Someone said and shrugged.
"Mountain master Gao, do you know anything?" Someone asked and several people turned to Gao Peng.
However, Gao Peng was not in the mood to deal with the spectators’ curiosity.
Rather than answer, he signalled his group and walked away from the entrance of the tribulation grounds.
Seeing this, several people looked at each other but no one dared to stop Gao Peng.
In the end, the crowd dispersed and the entrance of the tribulation grounds regained its usual atmosphere.
While the outside world was returning to normal, Yu Nianzhen entered a different space.
The space was darker than the darkest night and exuded a depressing sense of nothingness.
Most importantly, as soon as he entered the space, the swordsman had an uncharacteristic desire to escape.
’I need light.’ He thought and subconsciously tried to take out a night pearl from his storage ring.
However, there seemed to be a disconnect between his thoughts and his ability.
Although he knew how to use a storage ring and could do it effortlessly, he suddenly felt that using a storage ring was the most complex task in the world.
’What’s going on? Why can’t I use my storage ring?’ Yu Nianzhen couldn’t help but panic a little.
However, his state of mind wasn’t so easily broken.
After taking a deep breath, he calmed down and closed his eyes.
Soon after, he opened his eyes and looked around.
Unfortunately, the world was still usually dark and still reeked of emptiness.
’I wonder if XiaoYue is okay.’ Yu Nianzhen thought and couldn’t help but worry.
However, he soon focused his attention.
Although he was worried about Jiang Yue, he and his Taoist companion were equals.
He trusted that Jiang Yue would take care of himself and do his best to overcome the tribulation.
"Tribulation." He muttered but suddenly frowned.
"Why can’t I hear my voice?" Yu Nianzhen muttered again and turned in place as if trying to see the world around him.
’I can’t see or hear and my divine sense can’t search my surroundings.’ Yu Nianzhen thought and his eyes narrowed into a straight line.
A moment later, his eyes hardened and he sighed.
’First things first, I need to leave this place.’ He thought.
Since he couldn’t see, hear, or sense the right way, Yu Nianzhen didn’t dwell on the direction.
Instead, he walked randomly and hoped to see light or encounter Jiang Yue.
Unfortunately, his hopes were in vain.
When he first entered the space, Yu Nianzhen had a clear understanding of himself and knew what he wanted with his life.
However, as he walked around the space, the certainties began to blur.
What he thought he knew became uncertain and even the trajectory of his life became unsure.
Realising this, Yu Nianzhen couldn’t help but be shaken.
’I should stop walking.’ He thought, sat cross-legged and closed his eyes.
Although he was a little panicked, Yu Nianzhen didn’t rush to figure out what was happening.
Instead, he patiently meditated until his heart calmed down.
When he regained his calm, he began to examine everything that happened since he entered the portal.
After a long time of self-examination, Yu Nianzhen found a clue.
’Why did I start walking around?’ He wondered.
When he decided to walk around, he felt it was better to do something than do nothing.
However, when he thought about it, he realised that that kind of thinking was a fallacy.
In some cases, doing something was better than doing nothing.
Unfortunately, this time was not one of those cases.
In the end, he allowed his unease to control his thinking and behaviour.
’When I realised my senses were deprived, I should have taken more time to consider the trial rather than purposelessly roaming.’ He thought.
At the same time, a sudden insight came to his mind.
Before he stopped his roaming, he was beginning to question his existence.
Although he couldn’t be sure, Yu Nianzhen felt that if he continued roaming, he would fail to hold on to his sense of existence and would eventually be stuck without a way out of the trial grounds.
’What I need to do is rebuild my sense of self. Understand who I am, what I want to do, and where I want to go. Only if I know these things will I find a way out of this place. Otherwise, I will be stuck here for an eternity.’ He decided.
After that, Yu Nianzhen entered a deep meditation.
While he meditated, time seemed to simultaneously pass and stand still.
However, the passage of time had nothing to do with Yu Nianzhen.
At the moment, all his focus was on understanding himself and rebuilding his certainty.
Fortunately, his efforts and focus were not useless and he gradually entered a state of enlightenment.
Time passed in this way.
When Yu Nianzhen finally opened his eyes, he looked and felt different.
Most importantly, he suddenly found that the world wasn’t as disorienting as before.
Although he still couldn’t see, hear, or sense, he knew which way to go.
"As long as I understand myself, my heart will never waiver and I will never lose track of my existence or goals." He muttered and released Shanjiang.
Soon after, he began to practice his swordsmanship.
As usual, he started with the one hundred and eight basic sword moves before gradually progressing to more complex sword arts.
After practising his Dao Transcending sword art, Yu Nianzhen heaved a sigh of relief and satisfaction.
"My swordsmanship has improved a lot." He said and couldn’t help but think of Jiang Yue.
Since they were young, Jiang Yue always liked to watch him practice.
Now that his swordsmanship had improved again, Yu Nianzhen naturally wanted to show off in front of his lover.
’I wonder if XiaoYue found the trick to escaping the confusion and disorientation.’ He wondered and then laughed.
"XiaoYue is so clever and determined, he probably found the trick earlier than I did." He said with a smile on his face.
Soon after, Yu Nianzhen left the area and began walking in a certain direction.
Although he couldn’t see, hear, or sense anything, his footsteps were firm and his eyes were sure.
’Even if the surroundings look the same, only this path will lead me to the destination I seek.’ He thought and continued walking.
After walking for a long time, a golden light appeared in the darkness.
The light was pale and was incomparable to the light that shone when they were entering the tribulation grounds.
However, Yu Nianzhen knew that the light was his destination.
Without worry, he continued walking forward and the light became brighter and brighter.
Finally, he arrived at the foot of a golden staircase.
"Golden stairs." Yu Nianzhen muttered with a helpless look in his eyes.
When he and Jiang Yue first joined the Sea Cloud sect, they entered the Ten-Storey pagoda.
In the pagoda, Yu Nianzhen encountered a gravity staircase which was extremely difficult to climb.
Since then, the swordsman secretly had a healthy wariness for ’stairs’.
At the moment, he felt the stairs in front of him were more dangerous than any other ’stairs’ he had ever come across.
Although their golden light looked warm and inviting, Yu Nianzhen felt he would suffer a lot if he dared to step on the stairs.
However, there was no way to avoid it.
Despite their danger, the stairs in front of him were the key to his cultivation.
Thinking of this, Yu Nianzhen looked at the golden stairs.
For some reason, he felt that climbing the stairs would open an unexpected door.
Unfortunately, everything was just his feelings and not based on any information he had about the Nine Hearts trial.
’It doesn’t matter.’ He thought and squinted his eyes.
"Since I have a good feeling, there is no reason to back down. Whatever opportunity there is, I will grab it." He decided and took a deep breath.
A moment later, Yu Nianzhen stepped on the first step and a golden light engulfed him.
