An Lin opened his eyes and was immediately struck by a strong sense of feebleness.
His legs almost gave out from under him.
“I… I became a mortal?”
He was astonished to find that he had no strength in his body, and he couldn’t even detect the Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth.
An Lin looked around at his surroundings to discover that he was situated on a huge, floating stone amid a vast expanse of grey murkiness. Beneath this floating stone were countless sharp sabers all pointing upward.
“What is this place? Wasn’t I transcending a tribulation? How did I end up here?
“Is this a dream? Or an illusionary realm?
“Maybe I was knocked out by the lightning, and this is just a hallucination?”
An Lin muttered to himself before drawing his Evil-Slaying Sword and slashing down upon his arm.
Splat!
Blood splattered into the air.
Blood splattered all over An Lin’s face.
“Gasp… Ow ow ow…” An Lin drew a sharp intake of breath and grasped his injured arm. The acute pain from that self-inflicted sword wound told him that this was very likely to be the reality!
“Welcome to the heavens outside of the heavens.”
An extremely apathetic and commanding voice sounded in the sky above.
An Lin’s expression shifted. “Who are you?”
“I am Golden Void Lightning,” the voice sounded again.
An Lin’s expression darkened. “A talking Golden Void Lightning? Did you come to life?”
“Come to life? I am the most fundamental Golden Void Lightning with a sentient will of my own, so you can say that,” the voice in the sky replied.
The most fundamental Golden Void Lightning?
Sentient will?
An Lin was astonished. “H… how did I get here?”
“You’re here because I am your tribulation lightning,” the voice replied.
An Lin: “…”
Can you just spare me? I’m just an ordinary Soul Formation Stage cultivator, for God’s sake! Why is there a living Golden Void Lightning confronting me?!
“You will have successfully transcended your tribulation after passing my trial,” the living Golden Void Lightning spoke.
An Lin repressed the urge to complain and asked, “What trial do I need to pass?”
“You just need to answer some questions and make some decisions…”
The living Golden Void Lightning’s voice slowly faded before disappearing.
An Lin finally accepted the Golden Void Lightning’s words. After all, this was something that had stripped away all of his power and teleported him here to this inexplicable place, so it was clearly no ordinary creature.
The living Golden Void Lightning’s voice suddenly sounded again.
“Tell me, why would you like to progress to the Return to Void Stage?”
The Golden Void Lightning’s apathetic voice sounded again, and it felt as if An Lin was being questioned by the very heavens.
An Lin faltered slightly upon hearing this. This question should be an open-ended one with an infinite number of different answers, right?
“To pursue immortality and broaden my horizons.” An Lin gave an honest answer.
“Oh… What a simple and selfish thought process. You are of no benefit whatsoever to this world…” A hint of disdain appeared in the apathetic voice, and Golden Void Lightning began to flash in the air.
An Lin’s heart jolted with fright. If he was to take a bolt of Golden Void Lightning in his current state, he would definitely be dead!
He immediately corrected himself and said, “Golden Void Lightning, I haven’t finished my answer yet! I’m doing all this in order to become stronger, stand up for justice, and rescue the entire world!”
“Affirmative,” the living Golden Void Lightning’s elated voice sounded.
An Lin: “???”
It sounded like this was the right answer?
Was this living Golden Void Lightning some sort of justice warrior?
“Seeing as your goal is to rescue the entire world, let me devise a trial for you by the name of ‘Rescue’…” The Golden Void Lightning’s voice sounded again.
An Lin was a little perplexed. The name of this trial sounded a little weird.
Before he had a chance to do anything.
Another burst of spatial fluctuations swept forth.
Two gigantic floating stones suddenly appeared within this murky space.
Several thousand humans stood on both stones with confusion etched on their faces.
“Wh… what is this place?”
“Waah… Mommy, I’m so scared…”
“Don’t be scared, Mommy’s here…”
“Ah! Look, there are so many sharp sabers down below!”
All of the humans began to panic upon seeing this.
An Lin’s expression shifted. He could sense that these humans were real and not illusionary!
The floating stone An Lin was situated on was right in between the two other floating stones, but the humans on those stones could not see him.
Crack…
A crisp crack sounded.
The two huge floating stones slowly began to crack open.
“Ah…!”
“Help me!”
“Waah… Waah… Waah…”
All of the humans on the floating stones screamed and wailed at the sight of the stones cracking beneath their feet. If the stones were to completely crack open, they would be greeted by all those sharp sabers down below!
“Stop! What’s the meaning of this?” An Lin looked up into the sky with an enraged expression.
A voice sounded within the murky space again.
“There are a total of ten thousand people on those floating stones, all of whom are mortals that I have selected at random from the Tai Chu Continent. Among them, six thousand are situated on the stone to the left while four thousand are situated on the stone to the right… The floating stones are quickly disintegrating due to a lack of energy…”
A stone slab suddenly appeared before An Lin.
There were two circular holes on the stone slab, and a blue bead appeared beside the stone slab.
“The floating stones are going to completely shatter within a minute.
“You now have a chance to rescue these humans. Place the blue bead into the hole on the left, and the floating stone on the left will receive new energy and begin to repair itself…”
A sense of foreboding welled up in An Lin’s heart. “If I do that, what’s going to happen to the humans on the right?”
“Their stone will completely collapse due to a lack of energy, and they will fall.”
The living Golden Void Lightning’s emotionless voice reverberated through the air.
An Lin: “…”
So he could only choose to save one group of humans or the other…
“Are you f*cking playing with me?!” An Lin roared with rage.
“You have forty seconds left,” the cold voice sounded in the sky again.
The floating stones were about to crumble and were trembling violently. Stone fragments fell and were all sliced like tofu by the sabers below.
“You have thirty seconds left,” the Golden Void Lightning’s voice sounded again.
An Lin grabbed the blue bead with a trembling hand before turning to look at the stone slab.
There were six thousand people on one side and four thousand on the other. He had to save the one with most people!
The despairing wails of ten thousand humans sounded from the floating stones.
An Lin took a deep breath before moving the bead toward the hole on the left.
“Ten seconds left…”
If he didn’t make a choice, all of them would die here, so he had to make a choice.
At the very least, he had to save as many humans as he could!
