Chapter 588: Epilogue: This Is Nothing Short of a Trial

The nighttime Jūnzhú Shān is completely different from what we saw from the outskirts during the day.

We have just entered the second lunar month, and though the spring chill is still biting, Jūnzhú Shān is already lush and verdant.

Perhaps because the incense never ceases year-round, the perceived temperature here is indeed higher than elsewhere.

The whole mountain before our eyes looks higher and more perilous than it did in daylight.

The mountain's body seems to have been rendered ethereal, appearing hazy in the mist, completely turning into a backdrop.

The iron-chain bridge soars straight up; at first glance it looks almost vertical, and just staring at it, some people with acrophobia might not be able to bear it.

On the mountainside, the Shíjiǔ Dòngtiān resembles a crouching giant beast, and the iron-chain bridge is like a long tongue spat from its maw, as if it would, in the next second, tear apart and devour anyone daring to intrude.

As I continued to lift my gaze, all I could see was a sea of thick fog, and I could no longer see the Dēngtiān Diàn at the summit.

I fear that to catch a glimpse of the Dēngtiān Diàn, I must first ascend to the Shíjiǔ Dòngtiān.

I asked Xiǎo Dàoshì, 'Can we just fly straight up?'

Xiǎo Dàoshì did not answer directly; instead, he pulled a coin from his pocket, flicked it with his finger, and the coin shot toward the fog. In an instant, we saw a flash like electricity ripple through the mist, and the coin had turned to powder, vanishing without a trace.

I was shaken inside; although I had been mentally prepared, I still got a little startled by the sight before me.

This is hardly a mountain at all; it's practically a proving ground.

A trial of ability, emotion, and humanity.

Xiǎo Dàoshì again stressed solemnly: 'You two can still turn back now; once you set foot on the iron-chain bridge, turning back midway is not easy—either you fall and are smashed to pieces, or you climb all the way to the Shíjiǔ Dòngtiān.'

I wondered, 'After entering the Shíjiǔ Dòngtiān, then what? Having done what needs to be done, do we still have to return the same way?'

'No, after entering the Shíjiǔ Dòngtiān, there are two paths to choose from,' Xiǎo Dàoshì explained. 'One is the descent route, the other is the ascent-to-heaven route.'

The descent route likely means exactly what it says—not returning via the iron-chain bridge the way we came, but a normal downhill path will appear.

The ascent-to-heaven route, however, means continuing to climb the iron-chain bridge after severing love and affection, reaching the summit, and cultivating to ascend to heaven.

Liu Junyan and I, regardless of ability or emotion, have already undergone countless trials; we both hesitated not at all as we climbed onto the iron-chain bridge.

I led, Liu Junyan followed behind, but he stayed very close to me.

If the iron-chain bridge were not so narrow—its width barely enough for one person—Liu Junyan would certainly have walked side by side with me.

The moment both of us had climbed onto the iron-chain bridge, the bridge that had originally been connected to the ground behind the Chénghuáng Miào's rear gate suddenly swung loose, no longer fixed to the ground.

Liu Junyan and I were like people swinging on a rope over a cliff, swaying back and forth with the bridge's motion.

This feeling of drifting without any point of leverage makes one's scalp go numb.

But soon, the iron-chain bridge was stabilized.

Liu Junyan cast a spell to temporarily steady the surrounding air currents.

With the air no longer turbulent, the iron-chain bridge naturally ceased to swing wildly.

I glanced back and was shocked to find that I could no longer see the rear gate of the Chénghuáng Miào, nor the Xiǎo Dàoshì standing beside it.

The whole space was enveloped in a thick layer of fog, yet strangely, that fog only shrouded our vicinity, while the ground beneath our feet remained unusually clear.

I lowered my gaze for a moment, instinctively shifted my line of sight, then looked again, shifted again…

Each time, what I saw was different.

The first time I looked down, I saw a sea of fire beneath the iron-chain bridge; within the roaring flames, tongues of fire leapt out, three or four meters long, giving the impression that even a slight extra effort could burn the bridge to ashes.

But when I looked a second time, the area below had become a field of sword tombs.

The sword tombs beneath the iron-chain bridge were completely different from those I had seen in the Linghai Forbidden Ground.

In the Linghai Forbidden Ground, the sword tombs mainly served to suppress whatever lay in the deep abyss of Linghai, with all the swords planted firmly within the tombs.

Meanwhile, the swords beneath the iron-chain bridge flew about in disorder; when I glanced at them, they seemed to have just noticed me, and they all swooshed toward the bridge, thrusting at it…

I realized at once that these swords, including the sword tombs below, were false.

They were merely illusions.

This is a rudimentary means of testing one's state of mind, intended to make climbers lose their composure, even fall from the iron-chain bridge and be utterly consumed.

Yet the iron-chain bridge is exposed on all sides, making it impossible not to look down.

When my gaze fell downward for the third time, I still couldn't help but suck in a breath of cold air.

This time, a valley appeared beneath the iron-chain bridge, littered with many corpses lying haphazardly.

Those corpses were all people who had fallen from the iron-chain bridge and died on impact; nearly every face showed an expression of terror and despair.

And at the very top of that pile of corpses, I saw two familiar figures.

They lay face up, their five viscera and six bowels seemingly shattered, their faces and mouths covered in blood.

The two held hands, eyes wide open, dying without peace.

The man was Liu Junyan, and the woman was me…

I have to say, the impact was too strong.

This sense of foreboding death can truly drive a person with an unstable mind to madness.

I glanced once and then averted my eyes.

Perhaps because I had witnessed many shocking and complex grand scenes before, this little affair before me seemed like mere petty squabbles to me.

"Fènglí nú!"

I had just steadied my mind and withdrawn my gaze when I heard someone calling that name.

The voice and tone were as usual, grating and unpleasant.

The fog before my eyes cleared, and Fènglí Zhū appeared before me.

"Yān gēgē is mine; I have a marriage contract with him. You are my slave—how dare you vie with me for Yān gēgē? You're asking for death!"

As Fènglí Zhū spoke, she slapped a palm toward me.

The palm wind split the air with a rustling sound.

That feeling was strange; even though I knew in my heart that this too was an illusion, that Fènglí Zhū had long been dead and could not possibly appear here, when the palm wind came whooshing toward me, I still instinctively dodged.

The body suddenly swayed, raising a hand to meet Fengli Shu's palm wind.

But the moment I let go, I came to my senses—how could I let go?

I'm still on the Tiěsuǒ Qiáo!

Letting go like this will truly doom me forever!

「Haha, hahaha……」

Fengli Shu burst into loud laughter, as if looking at the joke of a defeated subordinate.

One hand firmly gripped the edge of the iron chain, the other hand condensed Mana.

Just as I was about to shatter this illusion, my Mana-condensing hand was seized by another large hand.

Immediately after, I heard Liu Junyan speaking behind me: "Xiao Jiu, we've been tricked; there is no such thing as the Nineteen Cave-Heavens above—it's merely a stepping stone for the Ascension Heaven Palace. If we enter, we will become furnaces for the cultivators of the Ascension Heaven Palace. Hurry, follow me back; we'll discuss a long-term plan."

Saying this, Liu Junyan grabbed my hand and prepared to return the way we came……