Volume One: Another World Chapter Thirty-Five: Breaking Into Tears

“Li Yu!” The moment Qing Anqi stepped out of the portal, her eyes fell upon Li Yu outside the altar, and she called out in delight.

But upon hearing the virtual woman’s words and then seeing the long robe behind Li Yu, nearly as tall as she was, Qing Anqi felt a pang of defeat.

Her mood soured. Even though she had successfully passed the trial, receiving bonus points for her age and achieving a perfect score, she had thought she did exceptionally well. Yet, compared to Li Yu, she was utterly outmatched.

The robe was stuffed to overflowing.

“Wait, what if he simply chose larger items?” Qing Anqi suddenly wondered. After all, she had spent so much time to pass the trial perfectly, while Li Yu had finished before her and already made his selections.

That might just mean Li Yu had merely passed the trial in an ordinary way!

With that thought, Qing Anqi sped toward Li Yu. As she stepped beyond the altar's boundary, the virtual woman's voice echoed once more.

“Timing begins.”

Upon hearing this, Li Yu waved at Qing Anqi as she rushed over, urging her to hurry and select her spiritual plants.

“Wait for me here!” Qing Anqi called out. Though the Qing family had many spiritual plants, they were not freely given; being able to take twenty for free was quite a windfall for her.

Most importantly, these were all spiritual herbs. With the right pill recipes, such items were far more precious than ordinary spiritual materials, and cultivated properly, they could be bred and propagated.

Qing Anqi ran toward the open area.

Perhaps due to the presence of trial participants, the altar had changed, displaying much more information. Li Yu, just out from the reward space with a large bundle, decided to stay and examine these details.

“Wait,” Li Yu suddenly remembered, shouting, “Anqi, don’t go that way—I came from there.”

“Got it!” Her voice faded into the distance.

“Qing God… Does this world truly have gods?” Li Yu turned to examine the newly appearing script around the altar.

Was this a title, or an actual deity?

Li Yu studied the ancient characters. When he first arrived in this foreign world, he'd learned script from Mu Yinhua in Stone Village. During his time in the Qing clan territory, all the books he read used the same script.

But the characters floating in this trial space, Li Yu had seen before—in illustrations of historical records, they were the early script of the Qin Empire, the predecessor to the Grand Ming Kingdom.

“Built while the Qin Empire still existed?” Li Yu pondered. The script resembled both the traditional and simplified forms of Huaxia’s writing, allowing him to roughly infer their meaning from the current language.

With the system’s translation aid, Li Yu quickly read through and extracted much useful information.

[Qing God is one of the Qing clan’s ancestors. After advancing to the third rank, his bloodline was passed down, forming a formidable branch within the Qing clan. Upon reaching the first rank, he accepted an invitation from the emperor and departed.]

The imperial emperor—Li Yu was taken aback. That must refer to the Qin Empire’s ruler.

And a first-rank expert? That was the pinnacle of divine cultivation. He hadn't expected the Qing clan to have such a legendary predecessor.

[Before departing, Qing God created a trial space underground, according to his own rules, making it suitable for spiritual herbs to grow. Anyone with Qing clan blood may attempt the puppet’s three trials; those who succeed can enter the space and receive rewards.]

Reading this, Li Yu began to understand.

The underground trial space—perhaps the cave was one possible entrance. It was natural that Qing Anqi had brushed against it during the underground river expedition; maybe her blood activated the entrance, drawing both of them in.

The difference was that Li Yu was directly transported to the reward segment, while Qing Anqi dutifully underwent the three trials before arriving.

“Truly unfair,” Li Yu muttered. The same experience yielded different outcomes; at first, he’d assumed Qing Anqi was off somewhere picking up treasures, too.

Still, Li Yu felt fortunate. He was not a member of the Qing clan—had he appeared in the trial stages, who knew if he’d be deemed an intruder?

“A first-rank expert, creating a space? Such a feat deserves the title of god!” Li Yu patiently read all the inscriptions and information that had appeared after activation.

[The Qin Empire invited two—another first-rank cultivator remained to guard the Qing clan, politely declining the invitation.]

Remarkable, another first-rank cultivator.

Li Yu now understood why the Qing clan could control an entire prefecture—it was their martial might. Officially, the Qing clan had only a second-rank cultivator, and Li Yu had never heard rumors of a first-rank presence.

Yet, with only a second-rank cultivator, the Qing clan managed to dominate a prefecture!

According to what he knew, there were only about ten second-rank cultivators in the Grand Ming Kingdom.

“I wonder if that first-rank cultivator is still alive?” Li Yu mused. If so, the Qing clan should know about this space. How could such an excellent space be left unused?

“Li Yu, I’m back!” Qing Anqi had returned without his noticing, arms full, her elbows cradling spiritual herbs. “Help me pack these!”

“No,” Li Yu quickly brushed her hand away. “Keep yours for now.”

With Qing Anqi’s return, the phantom woman finally turned to face them both.

Li Yu felt uneasy—if Qing Anqi opened the bundle and saw the contents, would the virtual woman react violently?

From the altar’s information, Li Yu knew guiding entrants was only one of the virtual woman’s duties; she was also tasked with guarding and enforcing rules.

Under Li Yu’s nervous scrutiny, the virtual woman seemed not to notice him, but looked directly at Qing Anqi. “Trial taker, do you wish to finish?”

Qing Anqi nodded. “Yes.”

Upon her reply, the virtual woman swept her hand, and from the arch stones on the Bagua diagram, light interwove to form a portal.

“Go, go, go, let’s hurry!” Li Yu grabbed Qing Anqi’s hand and dashed toward the portal.

“Ah, my treasure!” Qing Anqi cried as a verdant spiritual herb slipped from her arm, her voice filled with anguish. She had selected this one with care; the Qing clan only had two, both withered, for it was extinct elsewhere.

“No worries, I’ll replenish it for you!” Li Yu glanced at it—he had some in his bundle—and, seeing the virtual woman’s gaze upon him as soon as he stepped onto the altar, dared not pause, plunging directly into the portal.

“Whew, we’re out,” Li Yu breathed in relief.

On the other side, Qing Anqi’s eyes were red, nearly in tears.

This was her first time completing a trial alone. Previously, everyone had made allowances for her; during the Qingshan Hunt, though no one said it outright, the soldiers assigned to her were several times more than others', and her hunting area was cordoned off to ensure her safety.

Yet, for Qing Anqi, such protective measures deprived her of any chance to prove herself.

This time, unexpectedly entering the trial arena, where her opponent was the cold, unfeeling puppet and the perfect-score reward was her greatest encouragement—it showed that even without special treatment, she could be the best!

“Don’t cry, please don’t cry!” Li Yu rubbed his brow. He regarded her as a sister—not only had she saved him, but she was the only one who felt ‘genuine’, without ulterior motives.

He opened the bundle fashioned from the long robe. “Let me check—I remember picking up four or five identical spiritual herbs.”

Qing Anqi stared in disbelief. Had she seen correctly? That heap must contain over a hundred spiritual herbs.

“Found it, here it is!” Li Yu pulled out several herbs identical to the one Qing Anqi had dropped and handed them to her. “This is for you.”

Qing Anqi looked at the nineteen spiritual herbs in her arm, and for reasons she couldn’t explain, unable to restrain her sorrow, she burst into tears.