Chapter Fifteen: A Test of Desire

The beautiful woman’s face was filled with terror, her clothes disheveled, her collarbone and fragrant shoulder mostly exposed, catching the eye irresistibly.

Sensing Su Yi’s presence like a lifeline, she cried out in despair.

“Young master, save me!”

She shouted as she ran, immediately hiding behind Su Yi, clutching the hem of his garment tightly, looking utterly frightened. The burly man, seeing someone interfering with his mischief, widened his eyes.

“Who are you! How dare you stop your uncle from having fun? Get lost, or you won’t live to regret it!”

Su Yi understood at once—this was the so-called trial. Without hesitation, he stepped forward and with a horizontal slash of his blade, the man’s head flew off, ending his life instantly.

“Thank you, young master, for saving my life. I am forever grateful!”

The woman’s cheeks flushed, a shy smile playing on her lips. Her disheveled clothes revealed pale, flawless skin up close. She was already beautiful, and her plight made her appear all the more delicate and moving, stirring Su Yi’s heart.

He glanced her over and sneered coldly.

“Bold! I can tell at a glance you are no ordinary woman! Demon! Show your true form at once!”

With that, he slashed his blade horizontally.

The woman dodged in panic, her face filled with terror.

“Young master... what do you mean? I am not a demon!”

“Hmph, if you’re not a demon, how did you dodge my blade? Don’t try to fool me!”

He punched her down directly, then quickly untied his belt and bound her tightly.

“What are you doing, young master? I’m innocent!” she whimpered, eyes brimming with tears, looking pitiful and miserable.

Su Yi snorted coldly, brandishing his knife.

“This lonely wilderness—how could a delicate girl like you possibly be here? And yet, I heard no commotion earlier. Besides, your long skirt is a hindrance, yet you ran faster than the bandit without stumbling. Hardly the behavior of a weak woman.”

“Most importantly, you fled desperately, but there wasn’t a drop of sweat on you. Your makeup was untouched, and even your cumbersome skirt was free of a single speck of mud. Do you take me for a fool? If you’re acting, you should at least be convincing.”

A realization flashed across the woman’s eyes, and she fell silent. Just as Su Yi was about to decide whether to strike her down with a single blow, she vanished into a wisp of blue smoke.

Gazing at the empty floor, Su Yi thought to himself that he had probably passed the test.

This level was quite interesting.

His earlier choice to capture alive was not out of lust but curiosity to see if there would be any further developments.

But now it was clear—this trial was simply a test of temptation.

---

Su Yi sighed inwardly but quickly understood.

Lust is the root of all evil, after all.

Though seemingly trivial, this matter was laden with hidden meaning. Within the illusion’s guidance, most people revealed their true nature.

How many in the world can remain unmoved by beauty?

...

Meanwhile, outside, those monitoring the illusion’s internal situation wore grim expressions.

Everyone in the illusion faced the same trial, but the details varied by gender: men confronted seductive women, women faced alluring men.

Apart from the gender difference, the scenarios were completely different.

The female test-takers fared somewhat better, but the men’s trials were truly chaotic...

It was a madhouse, with disgraceful behavior everywhere.

Only a few with strength resisted the beauties’ advances after rescuing them from bandits; the rest were unbearable to watch.

Some capable ones killed the bandits and, seeing no witnesses, transformed into bandits themselves.

The timid threw their knives and ran when confronted, only to be kicked by the pursuing beauties.

Some went so far as to treat the bandits as sworn brothers, performing a tawdry three-person act.

But the most perverse were those who killed the beauties first, then untied their belts in front of the bandits...

Fortunately, these people were ejected from the illusion before doing anything else, or the trial would have turned into a wild orgy.

“Damn it, what kind of people are these? Worse than last year. The world’s morals are declining year by year, so vile!”

“Alas! Don’t mention it. That promising young man looked honest but turned out to be heartless as a beast.”

“The first trial is simple—just don’t do evil. Even fleeing can be justified as caution; after all, a gentleman does not stand beneath a dangerous wall. But running and kicking someone? What nonsense!”

“Wait, hold on. Don’t shout yet. I think I saw someone perfectly clear the first trial!”

Suddenly, an elder shouted, pointing at the screen. Everyone followed his finger and looked.

Seeing the footage of Su Yi passing the trial, expressions varied.

Qi Yongnian stroked his beard, sighing in admiration.

“This young man is impressive. He managed to unravel the illusion’s secrets through subtle clues—truly a perfect pass.”

“This is Zhang Yi. Though his talent is somewhat lacking, his character is excellent—keen insight, bold yet careful. Very good, very good!”

---

Zi Ling watched Su Yi’s figure on the screen and nodded with approval.

“The path of cultivation is fraught with hardships. Facing danger, one needs not only strength but also extreme caution. When traveling, a slight carelessness can lead to eternal ruin, death, and the loss of the Dao. Therefore, cultivators must be resolute and vigilant to walk the Immortal Path for a long time.”

“The first trial originally required discovering that the beauty was ‘inappropriate’ to pass. But with the decline of our Xianxia Sect, the passing rate under the original standard was too low, so the rules were relaxed to simply avoiding evil. Sigh!”

The crowd sighed in response. There was no helping it—every rise has its fall. The Xianxia Sect was fortunate to have lasted a millennium.

Before them, many contemporaneous sects had long since vanished without a trace.

Zi Ling gazed at the screen and slowly said,

“Since the rule change, the last perfect pass was by a disciple nine years ago.”

“Who was it?”

Apart from a few insiders, some new disciples of the Xianxia Sect looked puzzled. They had never heard of a perfect pass.

Before Zi Ling could answer, Qi Yongnian smiled.

“That person is none other than your Zi Ling Shijie herself.”

“She was only ten years old when she passed the illusion.”

The disciples twitched at the mention.

Facing temptation at ten? It’s no wonder she wasn’t moved!

Many of them were still chasing the opposite sex around at that age.

The disciples felt regretful—why hadn’t they taken the test at ten? Maybe they could’ve achieved a perfect pass and received special treatment!

Of course, these thoughts remained unspoken.

Zi Ling, besides being the sect leader’s daughter, had reached the peak of Foundation Establishment at a very young age, causing many elders to sweat in embarrassment.

Even with a perfect pass and good temperament, without talent, one would still be stuck in Qi Refinement at twenty-nine.