novelraw Chapter 62: Accidentally Walking Through the Wrong Door
Chapter 62: Accidentally Walking Through the Wrong Door
"Many thanks, Senior Apprentice Brother... I'm... I'm fine."
Chen Nansheng was so frightened his lips had turned blue. After catching his breath slightly and steadying himself, he said seriously, "Senior Apprentice Brother, I still want to..."
Before he finished speaking, he saw Li Qiuchen standing at the doorway, nodding at him, a strange smile on his face identical to that waiter's.
A strange gurgling sound came from Chen Nansheng's throat. His eyes rolled white, and he fell backward.
What could you say about this child? Did he have that quality of being... both bad at the game and addicted to playing?
Li Qiuchen wasn't there looking for him, but for Wang Su.
He had discovered a problem in the illusory realm that he didn't know whether to classify as a bug or not.
"Why does his mental state drop so fast? Clearly it hadn't reached bottom yet, but the red light directly went on and kicked him out?"
"This is normal."
Wang Su explained to him, "Cultivators like us have relatively stable mental states. Even entering an illusory realm for training, it's only a little bit of wear, not too large a consumption... normally speaking, that is."Du Qian interjected from the side, "There are exceptions."
"Right, there will be exceptions."
Mentioning this, Wang Su's facial expression couldn't help but twist, "Sometimes you encounter those particularly extreme illusory realms... his kind of situation would appear. That's not tempering mental state at all, it's making you directly have a complete mental breakdown."
Li Qiuchen thought to himself that he suspected these two were pointing at the mulberry tree while cursing the locust tree, but had no evidence.
In short, it wasn't a bug. Chen Nansheng just had a mental breakdown.
After all, he was young. Understandable.
But to be fair, Chen Nansheng's mental fortitude was much stronger than Li Qiuchen had imagined.
After resting only one day, he once again put forward the request to enter the illusory realm.
Unfortunately, this request couldn't be fulfilled.
Wang Su and Du Qian's coursework was already complete. They were now in a hurry to return and submit their assignment, too lazy to play with children anymore and Chen Nansheng himself couldn't produce additional spirit stones to buy an entrance ticket.
His family circumstances weren't particularly good. Otherwise, with his academic grades, he wouldn't have been unable to enter the inner court.
Spirit stones were comparable in value to gold. Wang Su, to trick him into coming as a test subject, had given him one for free. He had one of his own as well then his pockets were emptied.
Wang Su also had no inclination to give him special treatment again.
After all, he wasn't a particularly close relative or direct family.
Getting a taste was enough. Even a sworn father from the same dormitory couldn't possibly help you buy breakfast every day.
Chen Nansheng was very dejected. He felt he had already found the trick, and if he just tried one more time, he could definitely clear it.
Toward this kind of naive thinking, Li Qiuchen could only respond with a smile.
As long as you're happy.
Chen Nansheng hadn't given up, but he could only follow the two senior apprentice brothers back to the county now.
Before leaving, he swore earnestly to Li Qiuchen that come next spring, he would definitely come again to try clearing it.
They left, and this illusory realm fell again into the hands of Li Qiuchen, the project's only workhorse employee.
Given the powerful confidence that Student Chen had demonstrated, Li Qiuchen decided to make further minor adjustments to the illusory realm's plot, leaving him enough surprises.
Lord Chang the Eighth had run off with his bucket, so the two spirit stones that served as entrance fees naturally fell into Li Qiuchen's pocket.
Wang Su had deceived Chen Nansheng by saying spirit stones needed to be consumed to maintain the illusory realm's operation. This was a lie. That was pure income. What actually maintained the illusory realm's operation were those stone stakes they had previously buried around Blue Stone Platform.
Having seen off the county academy students, Li Qiuchen stood at the crossroads and had a sudden whim, deciding to personally experience this illusory realm as a challenger.
A cook stir-fries dishes every day in the back kitchen but hasn't tasted a single bite of the food he makes. If word got out, people would laugh.
Moreover, he had noticed some issues from Wang Su and Chen Nansheng's conversation.
That was, backend staff like himself and challengers like Chen Nansheng received different information.
Perhaps Wang Su felt there was no need to inform him of this portion of information, but Li Qiuchen was very interested in it.
As the saying goes, knowing yourself and your enemy, you can win a hundred battles.
Having experience himself, when encountering similar situations in the future, he would know how to respond.
Standing at the crossroads outside Blue Stone Platform town, Li Qiuchen took out Du Qian's token, adjusted his identity to challenger, and placed a spirit stone in the indentation.
A white light flashed. The surrounding icy world disappeared.
Even the town buildings before his eyes disappeared along with it.
Before Li Qiuchen could react, several lines of text suddenly appeared floating in the air before him.
[Third Grade Illusory Realm: Blue Stone Platform]
[Condition Restriction: Below Foundation Establishment cultivation]
[Maximum Challenger Count: 3]
[Current Challenger Count: 1]
[Background Introduction: An immortal descended here from beyond the heavens, slaying mountain demons, subduing evil spirits, educating the common people, spreading the Great Dao. You may go forth to seek an audience.]
[Trial Rule 1: May not reveal illusory realm content to other challengers.]
[Trial Rule 2: May not travel together with others.]
[Trial Rule 3: May not enter again.]
[Extra Rule 1: Has received the Medicine Master's blessing.]
[Creator: Li Jingyun]
...
Wait a moment!
What the hell is this?
Li Qiuchen kept reading and felt increasingly wrong.
Why was the name Li Jingyun so familiar? Wasn't this his family's ancestor? When did he put together something this big?
And what was this extra rule about receiving the Medicine Master's blessing?
Li Qiuchen stood in place dazed for a long time before reacting. What he had entered this time was not the illusory realm Wang Su and Du Qian had constructed.
Hidden in Blue Stone Platform was another illusory realm, one that even Wang Su and the others hadn't discovered and this illusory realm even had a hidden screening mechanism, meaning only those who had received the Medicine Master's blessing could enter!
Was this right? What was the difference between this and turning yourself in?
After thinking through this problem, Li Qiuchen instantly became tense, because in that instant he associated it with even more problems.
Blue Stone Platform town indeed had legends of an immortal, but those were all things from several hundred years ago.
Could it be that the immortal who spread the Dao was also a Medicine Master believer? Or in other words... was it Li Jingyun himself?
Additionally, the fact that Mohe the Perfected Being chose Blue Stone Platform as his place of cultivation, taking up residence there to develop believers, could it be because he discovered this secret?
Might he have left some contingency behind in here?
Li Qiuchen, who always pursued caution, felt alarm bells ringing in his heart. He had an immediate impulse to exit the illusory realm on the spot but this place wasn't the half-finished product Wang Su and the others had made. Once he exited, he was afraid there wouldn't be another chance to enter. The ancestor had died who knows how many years ago, and no one would give him a backdoor entry.
Moreover, he had already entered... if he was really seen, there would be nothing to explain. He could only consider the problem of silencing witnesses.
Thinking of this, Li Qiuchen felt somewhat hesitant again.
Wang Su had once said that an illusory realm was nothing more than a dreamscape woven from memories, and there wouldn't be real danger.
How about... he sneak in first to assess the situation?
[NEXT CHAPTER]