Qin Ruqing’s smile grew brighter.

After a polite bow, she pulled Qirong towards the cave, but the examiner stopped them.

“Only one person can go through at a time.”

Qin Ruqing and Qirong exchanged glances.

Qirong stood firm and said, “Sister, you go first. If I’m delayed, don’t wait for me.”

Qin Ruqing thought for a moment, then nodded. “Alright, I’ll go first and scout the way for you.”

Just as she was about to enter, the examiner called out again.

Qin Ruqing stopped and took a deep breath. “Examiner, do you have any more questions?”

The examiner’s eyes flickered with a hint of amusement.

He thought, “Kid, you wanted to scare me and make fun of my snoring. How could that be compared to snoring?”

The examiner replied calmly, “This cave has three difficulty levels: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Please choose one. Note that the difficulty level will affect your evaluation score.”

It felt like choosing a difficulty level in a game to Qin Ruqing.

She muttered to herself, then said without hesitation, “Examiner, is there a nightmare difficulty, something even harder than advanced?”

Of course, Qin Ruqing wanted to tackle the hardest level.

The examiner looked at her strangely.

Most people would be dismissed for such a request.

How could she handle something harder than advanced?

If she got stuck, it would be a problem for him to rescue her, and it wouldn’t be cheap for someone of his status.

However, this girl was the top student, a genius-grade talent who had made the top of the list…

The examiner thought for a moment and said, “Girl, you need to be sure. There is indeed a difficulty level beyond advanced, but once you choose it, you can’t change your mind. It is also highly likely that you might be in danger.”

Qin Ruqing asked, “If I choose the advanced level, is there a risk to my life?”

The examiner thought about it and nodded, “Yes, there is.”

Qin Ruqing smiled, “In that case, it’s settled.”

Since there was a risk to life at both levels, she might as well choose the one with the highest reward.

As the saying goes, “Since you’re here, you might as well go all out.”

The examiner looked at Qin Ruqing seriously and said, “Then go ahead.”

He then used a golden ring to cast several spells, making the ring expand and float above the cave entrance.

It was clear that the nightmare difficulty wasn’t something that could be easily accessed.

Qin Ruqing nodded to Qi Rong and stepped into the cave without hesitation.

As soon as she entered, the golden ring emitted a bright light, enveloping the entire cave and creating an isolated space.

Inside the cave, Qin Ruqing was enveloped in darkness.

She stayed alert, sharpening all her senses.

Suddenly, she heard a whooshing sound.

Qin Ruqing’s ears twitched, and she dodged to the side as if an arrow had flown past.

More whooshing sounds followed rapidly.

After dodging a few, she realized it might be a trap or a mechanism.

She tried to use her spiritual energy to enhance her vision, hoping to see where the arrows were coming from.

Although the examiner didn’t explain the rules, Qin Ruqing felt it was best to avoid getting hit by the arrows.

However, she found that enhancing her vision with spiritual energy wasn’t working.

It was as if the space was designed to strip her of her sight.

Another round of whooshing sounds followed, and she flipped to dodge.

She wasn’t panicked; if her eyes didn’t work, she would use her spiritual sense.

But she soon discovered that her spiritual sense was also blocked!

Qin Ruqing was frustrated.

Her vision and spiritual sense were blocked, so what was she supposed to use?

Only her hearing and instincts?

After narrowly dodging several arrows, she realized the cave was even more troublesome.

Not only was her vision and spiritual sense blocked, but her spiritual energy was also being sealed!

“Hey, hey, hey, this is a nightmare level?”

Qin Ruqing had a slight pang of regret. Well, just a tiny bit.

After a while of exploring, Qin Ruqing finally understood what this test was about.

It tested the body’s reflexes and reaction abilities.

By sealing her vision, spiritual sense, and even spiritual energy, the test required her to rely solely on her physical reflexes to avoid attacks.

Qin Ruqing bent over and held her position with one hand on the ground, lifting her chin.

“Wow, with this posture, I’d need to practice ballet for ten years to achieve this!”

“Humans are doomed!”

“Is it over yet? Is there no end? Enough already… Oh, come on, don’t make noise!”

Fed up with dodging the never-ending arrows, Qin Ruqing realized she needed to speed up to get through the tunnel.

Otherwise, the arrows would become denser, and without spiritual energy and spiritual sense, she’d definitely get hit.

“By the way, is there any margin for error in this test? Can I afford to get hit a few times?”

“Forget it, for someone like me, the goal is to complete it without any damage!”

Qin Ruqing stopped talking and twisted her body in extreme ways, performing a move that even diving athletes would admire.

She managed to catch a brief moment to breathe.

Spinning through the air, she quickly exited the area.

With one hand on the ground, she cautiously looked around.

The whooshing sounds stopped, and the air seemed eerily quiet, creating an unsettling sense of fear.

Of course, Qin Ruqing was not easily scared.

She had barely caught her breath for three seconds when suddenly she had to dodge again.

A red beam shot out from below her waist, hitting the opposite wall and causing some debris to fall.

“Seriously, infrared beams now? And there’s no more whooshing sound. This is just too much!”

Luckily, Qin Ruqing’s body was no ordinary body.

Not only was it enhanced by her own advancements, but after six months of refining in the Fire Pool and countless rounds of training and reorganization, her physical qualities were astonishingly high, far exceeding her current cultivation level.

“I’ll dodge, dodge, dodge!”

After the beam section ended, Qin Ruqing thought the test was over, but the scene before her changed again.

The light brightened, though not excessively, mainly because her vision had returned.

“Hmm, I can see again, and my spiritual sense is working. Is this level over?”

Qin Ruqing found herself in a dim, enclosed space.

Everything was quiet, and her senses were normal.

Suddenly, her spiritual sense detected a small crystal ball falling rapidly.

Previous sections had conditioned her to instinctively dodge.

She quickly realized the ball was not aimed at her, so there was no need to dodge.

As the ball neared the ground, in a split second, Qin Ruqing made a pounce and caught it.

Sure enough, she didn’t feel any harm.

However, once the ball was in her hands, it dissolved like snow melting in water.

“Huh?”

“If catching this ball didn’t make me break my neck and kick it around!”

The catching action was fine, but why did the ball dissolve?

Was it the catching posture or the object itself?

Since the ball didn’t hit the ground, Qin Ruqing was confident she wouldn’t lose points.

Once again, two balls appeared.

As the balls touched her body and melted away, Qin Ruqing suddenly had a unique sensation.

This time, she decided not to use her hands but to use her spiritual sense.

Using spiritual sense to catch balls!

Normally, spiritual sense is formless and can’t hold onto tangible objects.

But Qin Ruqing decided to take a gamble.

Even if her spiritual sense couldn’t hold the balls, she could still catch them with her hands before they hit the ground.

A magical scene unfolded.

When the crystal balls touched her formless spiritual sense, it was as if they landed on an invisible net and didn’t fall!

But Qin Ruqing let out a groan.

She had never used her spiritual sense to catch physical objects before, and now it felt like being hit by a sledgehammer in her head—heavy and dizzy…

“The balls aren’t melting, but this feels awful!”

Qin Ruqing continued using her spiritual sense to catch the balls.

More and more crystal balls fell onto her spiritual sense, which was like a big net.

Her face turned pale, and sweat started to bead on her forehead.

“This feels like self-torture. I could use my hands, so why use my spiritual sense?”

“But if the crystal balls melt when they touch my hands but not when they touch my spiritual sense, something must be unusual!”

“Well, it’s just self-torture. Cultivators are used to it. I remember torturing myself in the Fire Pit for six months, pushing through with more and more courage. This is nothing compared to that!”

“I’ll keep going!”

When the number of crystal balls on her spiritual sense exceeded one hundred, Qin Ruqing’s legs were shaking, and she was hunched over like a shrimp.

To cultivators, spiritual sense is like an extra set of hands and feet.

Having so much spiritual sense engaged felt like carrying a mountain.

“Hmm? Is it my imagination, or does it feel like my spiritual sense has become more solid?” Qin Ruqing observed and found that it wasn’t her imagination.

The crystal balls seemed to be training her spiritual sense!

Her eyes lit up, and she no longer felt sore or tired.

She felt invigorated!

She shouted, “Bring on more, the more the better!”

The air was quiet for a moment, then the crystal balls started falling like hail, hitting her spiritual sense net with a loud noise. The weight made her collapse to the ground.

“Cough, cough, cough! Are you really controlling this with sound? Please don’t tell me it’s the examiner controlling it… I won’t tell anyone about how loudly you snore outside the island!”

The hailstorm seemed to intensify.

“Cough!” Qin Ruqing was getting hit harder and harder, but she felt her spiritual sense becoming even more solid.

It was working!

She shouted, “Let the storm come even stronger!” When there was no response, she added, “Examiner!”

The storm came back even stronger!

This cycle continued ten times.

Now Qin Ruqing was lying on the ground, but her spiritual sense net was still holding up the crystal balls.

When she counted, there were already several thousand on it.

Qin Ruqing still kept up her tough attitude, “Is there more? I feel like I’m about to level up!”

There was no response, not even any more crystal balls.

Qin Ruqing puffed, “Examiner, can’t you do it? Your snoring is so loud!”

It seemed like the crystal balls were really angry now.

They came down like a waterfall.

“Cough, cough, cough, cough… Enough, enough, I’m sorry, Examiner!”

Qin Ruqing was crushed, her face distorted from the pressure.

It was her determination and the will to take advantage of the situation that kept her spiritual sense from falling.

After enduring this wave, Qin Ruqing suddenly opened her eyes wide and stood up.

Just now, her spiritual sense seemed to have doubled in size—completely doubled!

With the expanded spiritual sense, catching the nearly ten thousand crystal balls felt easy and effortless.

Qin Ruqing’s confidence soared.

She put her hands on her hips and energetically shouted:

“Examiner, keep snoring!”

The examiner’s reaction was straightforward—he threw her out.

Outside, it was bright daylight.

Qin Ruqing had been thrown to the other end of the cave.

She stood up after rolling a few times and exclaimed, “Hey, why am I out? My test isn’t over yet!”

Qin Ruqing ran back into the cave.

A few seconds later, she was thrown out again.

The golden ring above the cave was buzzing, seemingly warning her.

Qin Ruqing swallowed her original words and said:

“Cough, not really, Examiner! I didn’t want to go in to grab the crystal balls. I wanted to tell you that the score isn’t out yet!”