“So the central lotus is the artifact?” Seeing the crucial holy object of the Xuanming Dao lineage up close, even Feng Qinxue’s breathing became momentarily hurried.

She turned to the Lu family members and, with some impatience, asked, “So, how do we communicate with such an artifact spirit?”

The Lu family patriarch, leaning on her staff and with intricate lines etched on her forehead, shook her head slowly. “We don’t know. Since the spirit fell into slumber, we haven’t been able to communicate with it successfully.”

Feng Qinxue deliberately appeared anxious, trying to extract information, but it was not so easily done.

“So… how do we get inside?” Feng Qinxue, having failed to extract the desired information, was not disappointed.

Her gaze returned to the artifact at the center of the lotus pool, which sparkled with light.

“Although the spirit is asleep, the artifact still functions autonomously. As long as one communicates with it through thought, their body will be automatically drawn into the internal space. At present, it’s truly just a place for training and assessment of the Xuanming Dao lineage.”

Feng Qinxue finally stopped asking questions and silently watched the lotus pool, lost in thought.

“Aunt Feng, this doesn’t add up!” The Feng family envoy had not received any instructions and stood silently behind Feng Qinxue.

Only Qin Ruqing spoke up abruptly, “If, as Patriarch Lu said, they don’t know how to communicate with the artifact spirit, then how did the Lu family obtain the Xuanming legacy in the first place? Surely the knowledge didn’t just fly into their heads!”

Her tone was slightly exaggerated, but it was exactly this manner that made everyone realize she was being deliberate.

Feng Qinxue looked at Qin Ruqing with satisfaction.

This was exactly what she wanted to ask.

The Lu family patriarch’s eyes narrowed instantly, and her sharp gaze landed on Qin Ruqing’s face.

Qin Ruqing was unafraid.

She met her gaze openly and added a dazzling smile, which only made her seem more infuriating.

The patriarch struck the ground heavily with her staff before turning to look at Feng Qinxue, who was waiting for an answer.

“Director Feng, I am not lying. The Lu family obtained the Xuanming legacy entirely because the artifact spirit actively imparted this knowledge to us. As for the reason, it may be that the environment we provided was highly favored by the spirit. Additionally, supporting the operation of the trial grounds is not easy, so we took extra measures to delay the spirit’s slumber. Presumably, the spirit noticed our efforts and reciprocated by granting us the knowledge of Xuanming.”

Qin Ruqing secretly laughed.

It seemed the spirit was quite aware of how to repay kindness.

The answer was riddled with loopholes, but in this context, it would suffice.

Feng Qinxue indeed nodded and didn’t press further.

One couldn’t exactly ask, “How did you create such an environment that the spirit liked?” or “What kinds of measures can delay the spirit’s slumber…” These clearly involved the core secrets of a family.

The Feng family envoy seemed to want to waste no time.

The high-ranking members of the Feng family, led by Feng Qinxue, began to move inside.

This time, the envoy included three elders.

They decided that the third and fourth elders would lead, with several juniors in between, and Feng Qinxue would bring up the rear.

This arrangement was perfectly secure.

Qin Ruqing waited calmly but was eager to quickly experience the sensation of that mysterious thing that had called to her.

She restrained herself, even politely allowing Feng Mingyue to enter first.

Of course, she didn’t forget to make a mocking face at the young girls who had been glaring at her before entering.

This was purely intentional on Qin Ruqing’s part.

Feeling a strong sensation of being drawn in, Qin Ruqing soon found herself standing on solid ground.

Her expression remained calm as she stepped forward.

As she walked, she thought: The artifact now operates in an autonomous mode, which likely only has basic training functions.

It should be similar to the Four Hell Prison of the Fifth Family.

Thinking of the Four Prisons, Qin Ruqing instinctively frowned.

The Four Prisons were, of course, not an easy place to endure, and her experiences there were far from pleasant.

But soon, Qin Ruqing’s frown relaxed.

She thought that the pain she once suffered was something she wouldn’t have to endure again.

She was no longer who she used to be.

Re-entering a place like this training ground, she could now scrutinize everything from a completely different, more fundamental perspective.

For instance, the eighteen constantly rotating plum blossom stakes before her.

They resembled a massive gear, and the trial seemed to require challengers to dodge the stakes’ arms while advancing.

However, the gaps between the eighteen stakes were extremely narrow, making it impossible to pass through by simply dodging.

At some point, the challenger would inevitably have to engage with the stakes.

Qin Ruqing extended her arm, allowing the nearest plum blossom stake to strike her lightly.

There was a faint sting.

This was already quite impressive.

She was now a fully evolved Dao Physique; just standing still and letting the stake lightly strike her left her with such a clear sensation.

It was evident that the stakes were of extraordinary material, their hardness comparable to divine weapons.

Moreover, observing the stakes’ rotating paths, she noticed that at certain positions, there was no way around them; the stakes had to be destroyed within a fixed time because the next stake would immediately follow.

Thus, the challenge’s difficulty and key requirements became clear:

You had to simultaneously battle at least three opponents and break free from their entanglement (Qin Ruqing observed that a challenger would face at least three stakes at a time and needed to gain the upper hand to keep moving forward).

Upon reaching the third bend, all paths forward were dead ends, requiring the destruction of the stakes within a ten-breath limit.

There were about eight or nine of these dead ends, meaning that nearly half of the stakes had to be destroyed to reach the end. In the final two bends, the destruction time was shortened to just five breaths.

Qin Ruqing discerned all these details with just her eyes.

In the past, she would have been stunned, questioning the mental state of the trial’s designer.

But now?

She understood.

Standing at a certain height, her perspective had shifted entirely to overlook everything from above, with every detail magnified before her eyes.

Given the absolute gap in strength, the designer probably didn’t see this trial as difficult at all.

Qin Ruqing calmly summoned a ball of fire—though, of course, she wasn’t going to use heavenly fire to burn these mysterious metal stakes.

It wasn’t that it couldn’t melt them; it was just too much effort.

She opted for a simpler approach.

Drawing a flaming sword from the fire as if unsheathing it, Qin Ruqing swung it twice before suddenly slashing at a specific spot on one of the stakes.

After a brief pause, the stake began to crack like glass, eventually shattering into pieces.

Qin Ruqing nodded in satisfaction and continued forward, tearing through obstacles as if she had activated a cheat code.

Dead ends, bends, time limits—none seemed to exist for her.

She dispatched each stake with a single slash.

Eighteen stakes, from one end to the other, took her less than eighteen breaths to complete.

Clearing the stage with ease, Qin Ruqing clapped her hands, dispersed the flaming sword, and looked utterly relaxed.

This entire scene played out before the eyes of the Lu Clan.

After the Feng Clan entered, the Lu Clan naturally didn’t just stand idly by the lotus pond. They had long mastered the artifact, so they had means of observing the happenings inside.

To their surprise, many in the Lu Clan were more interested in Qin Ruqing than in watching Feng Mingyue.

They expressed a strong desire to see how this “freak” Qin Ruqing would pass the trial (their exact words).

And, strangely enough, the Lu Clan’s priests allowed the younger members to adjust a star-disk-like device to focus on Qin Ruqing’s location.

Thus, they witnessed the scene of Qin Ruqing effortlessly passing through the plum blossom stakes.

Everyone fell silent.

If they weren’t from the Lu family, they might have thought that passing this stage was a simple task.

To put it in perspective, the Lu family’s highest record for passing the plum blossom stakes was fifteen minutes, set by the previous generation’s Grand Priest.

Among the current generation, only the Saintess, Lu Zhiyou, who inherited the ice spirit, managed to keep her time within ten minutes.

The Lu family’s young women, who had been displeased with Qin Ruqing’s mocking faces before she left, immediately forgot their dissatisfaction when they saw her performance in the trials.

People are naturally inclined to respect strength, and those in the cultivation world are especially so.

While the younger generation watched with interest, the priests observed with deeper insight.

Seeing Qin Ruqing’s skill firsthand, they all had a shared realization:

“This is why the Feng family went to such lengths, even sacrificing their pride, to invite Qin Ruqing!”

If she could maintain such an impressive performance in the subsequent stages, there was a real possibility that she could awaken the artifact spirit.

No one understood the principles of artifact spirits better than the Lu family. Regardless of how strong the spirit was, it could not exceed the limits of the artifact itself.

Typically, when forging an artifact, there is a fundamental logic underlying it.

Consequently, an artifact spirit born from this logic would not contradict it.

The logic of the Lu family’s artifact operation was clear: it was a selection process, picking out talents suited for cultivating the Xuanming path.

Now, it was obvious to anyone with eyes that Qin Ruqing was an ideal candidate for this selection.

Would the spirit be moved and begin to awaken?

The Lu family members, fixated on Qin Ruqing, were so engrossed that they forgot about their rivals, the Feng family.

They just wanted to see if Qin Ruqing would continue to deliver such astonishing performances.

Some even had a subtle learning attitude—so this is how this stage can be passed!

However, Qin Ruqing turned out to be quite unpredictable, according to the Lu family’s assessment.

After passing about three stages, she surprisingly stopped and began to lose interest!

“It’s too easy!” Qin Ruqing, standing in the trial space, shook her head and sighed.

Listen to that! It was incredibly irritating!

The Lu family members clenched their fists but still couldn’t look away.

“I shouldn’t actively seek out the spirit… I should make the spirit come to me.”

This sentence, Qin Ruqing swallowed back down her throat.

To the Lu family, the scene they saw was that after Qin Ruqing made this irritating comment, she began to act restlessly, turning around in the trial space.

She even retraced her steps! She touched the spatial barriers, seemingly trying to explore how such a space existed.

She even summoned her terrifying flames, trying to burn down the trial space.

When the Lu family patriarch, leaning on his staff, almost lost his composure and was about to throw Qin Ruqing out, she settled down again.

To be precise, she sat down cross-legged and began to speak earnestly.

The Lu family’s lifelong confusion seemed to converge at this moment—was she trying to chant something to summon the spirit?

How absurd…!