Inside the chamber, a deathly silence blanketed everything.

  More than twenty cultivators sat in a circle. Every face bore the same expression—frozen disbelief.

  Moments earlier, they had each declared their sect affiliation.

  The result had stunned them all.

  Divine Iron Camp. Five Grains Mountain. Knights’ Alliance. Hundred Apricot Grove. Pavilion of Rites and Poetry.

  Every single one of the twenty-plus cultivators present belonged to the Five Great Righteous Sects.

  Not a single demonic cultivator was among them.

  “How… how is this possible?” A disciple of Divine Iron Camp was the first to break the silence. His weathered face was filled with confusion. “When we entered the secret realm, we clearly did so alongside those demonic fiends. Why are only righteous cultivators gathered here?”

  “Could it be,” another from Hundred Apricot Grove ventured cautiously, “that this realm has the ability to distinguish good from evil and deliberately separated us?”

  “That makes no sense!” someone immediately countered. “This is a Decline-of-Dharma secret realm. Spiritual energy is exhausted, laws are unstable. How could it possibly expend power on something so unfathomable? And for what purpose?”

  Discussion erupted once more. Guesses and doubts intertwined but no one could offer a convincing explanation.

  Then, from where she had been sitting quietly all this time, Huang Xiu Xiu suddenly spoke.

  “Yes.”

  Her voice was flat, devoid of emotion.

  “This is the path of this secret realm the Path of Hai-Suan. It is the power of the Dao Path that gathered us here.”

  Brows furrowed. Many looked at the expressionless girl in confusion.

  “Dao Path power?” the Divine Iron Camp disciple pressed. “Even if that’s true, what does it have to do with opening this door?”

  Senior Sister also turned her gaze toward her.

  “Xiu Xiu. Explain.”

  Huang Xiu Xiu slowly lifted her hollow eyes.

  “The realm precisely screened and transported us here. That itself is a manifestation of ‘calculation.’ It is telling us the rule of this place: brute force and luck are useless. To open the door, we must calculate which orb to destroy.”

  Someone let out a sharp, humorless laugh.

  “Isn’t that exactly what we already knew? That’s saying nothing at all! We’ve turned this place upside down—there isn’t even an extra stone lying around. With what are we supposed to calculate? The chamber is tiny. No mechanisms. No traps. Where are the clues?”

  Huang Xiu Xiu did not respond.

  Instead, she rose calmly and walked straight to the massive stone door.

  Senior Sister watched her back. A flicker of realization passed through her eyes.

  “Huang Xiu Xiu,” she said suddenly, “have you discovered something?”

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  “If we cannot find clues elsewhere,” Huang Xiu Xiu replied evenly, “then perhaps the lock itself is the clue.”

  Senior Sister’s brows drew tighter.

  “What do you mean?”

  This time, Huang Xiu Xiu did not answer directly.

  She raised her head and looked at Senior Sister.

  “Senior Sister, I am going to destroy one orb.”

  The room stiffened.

  Senior Sister hesitated briefly before asking in a low voice, “Which one?”

  Huang Xiu Xiu’s reply shocked everyone present.

  “Any one.”

  Any one?

  “Nonsense!” Senior Sister’s voice turned sharp. “What do you mean by that? If you don’t know which orb is correct, why waste one of our attempts? Do you understand the cost of choosing wrong?”

  “If our first choice fails, we will only have four orbs remaining. The probability of success will drop to merely twenty-five percent! That is far too low!”

  Others immediately joined in.

  “That’s right! This concerns all our lives. How can you treat it so lightly?”

  “Are you mad, girl? Why should we let you gamble with our lives?”

  “Junior Sister! Absolutely not! This is reckless please reconsider!”

  Voices of condemnation rose one after another, all directed at the silent girl standing before the door.

  Yet Huang Xiu Xiu remained unmoved.

  She ignored the uproar entirely and looked only at Senior Sister.

  “If there are no other clues, then the two attempts themselves are the clue. I must destroy one orb first. Only then will the true hint reveal itself.”

  Senior Sister fell into prolonged silence.

  Gradually, the others quieted as well.

  All eyes converged on her, waiting for her final decision.

  After what felt like an eternity, she spoke.

  “It must be done?”

  “Yes,” Huang Xiu Xiu answered.

  Senior Sister drew in a deep breath, as if reaching a decision.

  “Very well. I will grant you one chance.”

  The chamber erupted in alarm.

  “Senior Sister, no!”

  “The risk is too great!”

  “Please reconsider! We cannot place all our hope on baseless speculation!”

  But Senior Sister raised her hand, cutting them off.

  “My decision is final.”

  She turned back to Huang Xiu Xiu, her tone softening slightly.

  “Do not burden yourself. Act as you see fit. Since I have made this decision, whatever the consequences, I will bear them alone.”

  Though opposition burned within them, no one dared speak further.

  They could only watch uneasily as Huang Xiu Xiu lifted her small, pale hand and placed it upon one of the glowing orbs.

  The orb radiated a sharp golden light.

  Metal.

  With a slight exertion

  Crack.

  A crisp shattering sound echoed through the chamber.

  The golden orb shattered in her palm, dissolving into countless motes of light.

  Everyone held their breath, staring at the massive bronze lock.

  Though they deemed the odds slim, a faint hope still stirred in their hearts.

  What if?

  What if she had chosen correctly?

  Time passed.

  The lock did not change.

  Clearly

  She had chosen wrong.

  One precious attempt was gone.

  The air in the chamber grew suffocatingly heavy.

  No one spoke.

  First, because blame would change nothing.

  Second, because Senior Sister had declared that all consequences would be hers. To criticize Huang Xiu Xiu now would be to question Senior Sister’s judgment.

  And none wished to be that person.

  Senior Sister herself frowned deeply, disappointment flickering across her face.

  She was about to ask Huang Xiu Xiu whether she had noticed anything—

  When Huang Xiu Xiu spoke calmly.

  “It has appeared.”

  Senior Sister reacted instantly.

  “What has appeared?”

  Huang Xiu Xiu did not answer verbally.

  She simply raised a finger and pointed toward the lock.

  Everyone turned to look.

  On the cold bronze surface, the third engraved line of text had vanished.

  In its place now shimmered a new line of faintly glowing script:

  “You who now stand at the brink of despair fear not.”“Choose an orb and grasp it; I shall reveal to you the hidden mystery.”

  Silence fell once more.

  This time

  It was not despair.

  It was revelation.

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