Chapter 23: Don’t laugh, you can’t pass the second level if you come

Luo Qingchen’s fingers froze in midair.

The sensation transmitted back through the golden silk threads was not stone or an array disk at all.

It was soft.

And it was pulsing rhythmically.

There was a living creature buried underground!

Above her head, the third blood-red bolt of lightning had completely descended.

Ling Xiyue’s purple robes were entirely soaked in blood, and her body wavered as if she might fall at any moment.

The Green Scale Sword let out a piercing wail, its blade bending to an exaggerated arc.

“What are you dazing off for!” Ling Xiyue spat out a mouthful of bloody froth, her voice hoarse beyond recognition.

“Don’t worry about anything else — break the array first!”

Luo Qingchen’s scalp tingled.

‘No matter what is down there, if I don’t crush it now, we’re both finished here today. So be it!’

A look of ruthlessness flashed in Luo Qingchen’s eyes, and she clenched her ten fingers inward.

Her wrists crossed as she yanked hard.

The golden silk threads buried 3 feet deep instantly tightened, erupting with incredibly sharp cutting force.

*Squelch.*

A muffled, strange sound came from underground.

It sounded like something had been sliced open and burst.

Immediately after, the surrounding dark red light barrier trembled violently.

*Crack.*

A crack appeared on the surface of the light barrier.

It spread rapidly, covering the entire semi-spherical shield in a blink.

*Bang!*

The light barrier exploded, turning into a sky full of red specks.

The lethal blood lightning hanging above their heads dissipated instantly, losing the spiritual energy support from the formation.

It turned into a rain of red light, fluttering down.

Ling Xiyue’s Green Scale Sword clattered to the ground.

She fell straight backward.

Luo Qingchen was quick, grabbing her waist and catching her in her arms.

“Hey, hey, wake up! Don’t sleep on me!” Luo Qingchen patted Ling Xiyue’s cheek.

It felt icy cold.

Ling Xiyue’s eyes were tightly shut, her breath extremely weak.

Having just endured three bolts of blood lightning, her spiritual energy was completely exhausted.

Luo Qingchen hurriedly reached into the Jade Slip to pull out recovery pills.

She poured a few out from the porcelain bottle filled with expired pills.

Regardless of whether they were effective, she shoved them into the girl’s mouth.

Luo Qingchen pried Ling Xiyue’s mouth open to stuff the pills inside.

Before she could finish, the ground beneath them shook violently.

The commotion was even greater than when the array had activated.

Luo Qingchen’s hand trembled, and the pills rolled all over the ground.

“What now!”

She snapped her head toward the center of the Heavenly Pit.

Where she had forcibly crushed the array core, the ground was rising rapidly.

Thick layers of withered leaves were tossed aside.

Mud tumbled.

A massive dark shadow crawled slowly out from the ground.

Luo Qingchen dragged Ling Xiyue back a few steps and narrowed her eyes.

It was a giant creature, nearly 30 feet tall.

Its body was pieced together from dark yellow crystals.

It had no facial features, save for a massive single eye embedded in the center of its head.

It stood straight and shook the dirt off its body.

*Boom.*

A muffled thud echoed from the bottom of the Heavenly Pit.

Luo Qingchen swallowed and quietly extended her spiritual sense.

A second later, she let out a long sigh.

Her tense nerves relaxed instantly.

“Tch, gave me a fright.”

Luo Qingchen laid Ling Xiyue flat on the ground and stood up.

She wiped the dust off her hands and pulled the Five Elements Blade from her waist.

“Quite big, but you’re only at the Early Core Formation stage. Fairy, rest for a bit. I’ll go kite it.”

Luo Qingchen grinned and rolled her wrists.

“I was suffocating under that crappy array just now. You’re perfect for practice.”

She turned to look at the prone Ling Xiyue.

“Watch me use my animation-canceling footwork to slice this big guy into pebbles. Recover first, and find a chance to one-shot it.”

With that, Luo Qingchen gripped her daggers and prepared to charge.

Just as she took her first step, the unconscious Ling Xiyue suddenly opened her eyes.

She sat up abruptly, not even bothering to wipe the blood from her lips, her face pale as she stared at the massive crystal monster.

“Don’t go!” Ling Xiyue’s voice trembled slightly.

Forcing her last bit of strength, she grabbed Luo Qingchen’s back collar.

Luo Qingchen felt her neck tighten, and her feet instantly left the ground.

A second later, the wind whistled in her ears.

Ling Xiyue carried her like a purple blur, fleeing frantically toward the edge of the Heavenly Pit.

Her movements were incredibly fast, not at all looking like someone severely injured.

Luo Qingchen dangled in the air, limbs flailing.

“What are you doing! Put me down! It’s only at the Early Core Formation stage! You can fight it! We can coordinate and take it down!”

Luo Qingchen shouted, unwilling to give up.

She had regained her confidence against that Armored Savage Bull earlier and was itching for a fight.

This looked like a clumsy monster she could easily out-maneuver.

“Shut up!” Ling Xiyue snapped while sprinting.

“That is a Lingsha Crystal Giant! It feels no pain and has incredibly high physical defense. Worst of all, it can repair itself infinitely. It’s extremely troublesome. Even if you hack it into pieces, it can reconstruct itself within 3 breaths. It’s an unkillable monster!”

Luo Qingchen’s mind buzzed.

‘Infinite healing? High physical defense? This is a mechanics monster!’

In her past life playing games, she hated these unreasonable mechanics monsters the most.

No matter how good your skills were or how flashy your positioning was, you couldn’t kill it even if it just stood there.

“Is the master of this Secret Realm insane? Creating something like this just to annoy people!”

Luo Qingchen cursed loudly, her previous bravado vanishing into thin air.

“Run! Hurry! Whoever wants to fight this thing can have it!”

Luo Qingchen wrapped her arms around Ling Xiyue’s arm, urging her to go faster.

The edge of the Heavenly Pit was right in front of them.

If they could just jump out, they would leave this hellhole.

Xiao Bai was still waiting up there.

“Xiao Bai! Give us a hand!” Luo Qingchen yelled at the top of her lungs.

There was no response from above.

Ling Xiyue bit the tip of her tongue, forcing a bit of spiritual energy to circulate as she leapt upward.

Just as the two were about to burst out of the Heavenly Pit —

*Bang!*

A muffled thud.

They slammed into an invisible barrier.

The rebound force was immense.

Ling Xiyue was already at the end of her rope, and her grip slipped.

They fell like kites with broken strings, crashing back to the bottom of the Heavenly Pit.

Luo Qingchen tumbled twice and climbed up while clutching her nose.

Blood flowed through her fingers.

“What’s going on!”

She reached out to feel the air.

There was an incredibly tough barrier.

Space was locked down.

The entire Heavenly Pit had become a massive cage.

Luo Qingchen’s heart sank.

She turned to the center of the pit.

The 30-foot-tall Lingsha Crystal Giant had fully turned around.

Its massive single eye was locked onto them.

*Thud.*

The giant took a step.

The entire Heavenly Pit shook violently.

Withered leaves on the ground were jolted half a meter high.

*Thud.*

Another step.

The heavy footsteps were like a sledgehammer slamming against Luo Qingchen’s chest.

The pressure was overwhelming.

This pure difference in size, combined with the freakish mechanics, left no room for thoughts of resistance.

Ling Xiyue struggled to her feet, gripping the Green Scale Sword again.

Her hands were shaking badly.

“We can’t get out.”

Ling Xiyue stared at the approaching giant, her voice eerily calm.

“I’ll hold it back. You look for a chance to see if you can break this spatial barrier.”

Luo Qingchen didn’t reply.

She stared fixedly at the giant, her mind racing.

The Five Elements Blade was useless against it.

Arrays were useless.

How was she supposed to fight this? Poison? It was made of stone; what good would poison do!

While Luo Qingchen racked her brain for a strategy, the giant stopped.

It stood 10 paces away from them.

It did not advance further, nor did it attack.

The massive single eye flickered with an eerie red light.

Then, a stiff, mechanical voice echoed from within its body.

The voice had no emotion, echoing through the empty pit.

“Trial… taker.”

“First trial… array broken. You pass.”

“Second trial… defeat… me…”

“Trial… begin.”

Luo Qingchen froze.

Ling Xiyue was also stunned.

They looked at each other.

“A trial?”